ORLANDO, Fla. — Jonathan Isaac feels at home in several places here in his adopted city.

There’s his apartment in a downtown high-rise.

There’s his workplace, Amway Center, where he and his Orlando Magic teammates train, practice and play.

And there’s a space inside an aging strip mall on the northwest side of town.

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Nestled among those businesses, between a Family Dollar variety store and a Chinese restaurant, Isaac found people he considers family. They supported him and comforted him throughout the most difficult moments of his injury-plagued rookie season in the NBA. And now, midway through his second year as a pro basketball player, the same folks still give him strength.

They are the leaders and parishioners of J.U.M.P. Ministries Global Church.

On Nov. 19 this year, several days before Thanksgiving, the church was bustling. About 100 people — some of them homeless, some recovering from addiction — visited for a special holiday meal. Isaac purchased all the ingredients, and J.U.M.P.’s congregation did the cooking. The aroma of roasted chicken, baked ham, roasted turkey, green beans, macaroni and cheese, potato salad and stuffing filled the air.

Isaac and 12 church members gathered underneath a balcony, the food arrayed in tins on a long table in front of them. Isaac stood there serving, his neck craned because of the low ceiling, with transparent plastic gloves over his hands and a hairnet covering his feathery frohawk. For one hour, Isaac scooped green beans and chicken onto guests’ plates.

“Do you play basketball?” one guest in a red T-shirt and jeans asked.

“Yes, sir,” Isaac answered.

“What team? The Magic?”

“Yes, sir,” Isaac said, placing chicken onto the man’s plate.

A few minutes later, a person in a yellow dress shirt and dapper light-brown suit held a microphone and started speaking to the church’s guests. In a heavy Bahamian accent, he said, “I know you all are wondering who the 7-footer is serving you today. He is Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic! A leader on the court and off the court!”

The man talking was Durone Hepburn, J.U.M.P.’s bishop, and over the past 16 months, he has become a spiritual guide, mentor and father figure to Isaac. Hepburn brought Isaac into the church, but Hepburn also did something else that improved Isaac’s life. When Isaac needed a boost during the roughest stages of his rookie season, Hepburn and Hepburn’s flock uplifted Isaac’s faith in himself.

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“It’s just been a crazy journey with this dude,” Isaac said, smiling. “But he loves me so much.”

At first glance, it’s difficult to imagine Isaac, a lean 21-year-old, needing help from anyone. He is outwardly even-keeled at almost all times with an unassuming air of self-confidence.

Isaac has no shortage of supporters. He can call on his devoted flesh-and-blood family, a slew of high school and college coaches and Magic officials and teammates who care about him.

Know this, though: Isaac was only 19 years old when the Magic picked him in the 2017 NBA Draft out of Florida State. In a star-studded draft class, the Magic selected Isaac sixth overall, behind only Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Jayson Tatum, Josh Jackson and De’Aaron Fox. Even though Magic officials are taking a long-term view toward Isaac’s development, Isaac still held enormous expectations for himself and faced high expectations from fans.

And although he spent his teenage years in Florida, he knew almost no one in Orlando.

Isaac’s first few months with the Magic started well enough. At 6-10, with long arms and agile feet, he wreaked havoc as a defender during the team’s summer league exhibitions, preseason games and early regular-season matchups. Frank Vogel, then the team’s coach, often said Isaac was already one of the team’s best defenders. Vogel immediately slotted Isaac into the team’s playing rotation.

But injury issues emerged. During the summer league, Isaac tweaked one of his hips and sat out the final two exhibitions. In the Magic’s 13th regular-season game last season, Isaac rose to block a shot and came down on the foot of a Denver Nuggets player, rolling his right ankle. Isaac had never suffered an ankle injury before, and shortly afterward, he told reporters, “I think it’s just a sprain. I just rolled it. I’ll be fine.”

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His recovery took longer than he expected. A month passed before he was healthy enough to play again. And then, in Chicago, in his second game back, he aggravated the same ankle.

He put on a brave face. In reality, though, he now acknowledges he felt “distraught” and “upset” at the time.

“You’re the sixth pick and you get injured,” Isaac recalled. “The first thing is, ‘OK, is he injury prone? Is his health an issue?’ And then you come back and get hurt immediately again.

“It’s like, ‘Oh, is he a bust?’ You do your best as a person to be like, ‘Nah, get that out of your head.’ But once it’s in there, it’s in there. Once you hear that or you hear the fan base or people talking about that, it just gets in your psyche. So it’s like, ‘I don’t want to be hurt. I want to be playing. I want to prove to these people that I’m not a bust, that I can play basketball. But I can’t. I can’t get on the floor because I’m hurt.’ ”

The plane ride back from Chicago to Orlando took a couple of hours, and Isaac spent the time thinking about his situation. Sitting in his seat on the Magic’s chartered jet, he opened a Christian devotional booklet called “Our Daily Bread.” For that day’s entry, the booklet repeated the Biblical tale of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego standing up to Babylon’s king, Nebuchadnezzar. Isaac took a lesson from his reading: God is with people on their good days and on their bad days. The reminder cheered up Isaac a bit, but he still felt sad when he finally got to his apartment building.

As he got off the elevator and limped to his apartment, he saw something unexpected on his front door. Someone had put up a Christmas wreath.

“What the heck is going on?” Isaac remembers wondering.

Isaac unlocked the door, and inside his living room, he saw a Christmas tree with presents underneath.

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He put two and two together: He had given Hepburn the key to his front door because church members had volunteered to clean his apartment.

Everything — the wreath, the tree, the gifts — came from the church.

And, in a split second, Isaac’s sadness evaporated.

Joining the church weeks earlier occurred after a series of coincidences.

Christianity has been a part of Isaac’s life since he was a child, but it hasn’t always been central.

His dad was the household’s driving spiritual force, but Isaac’s parents split up, prompting Isaac, his mom and his siblings to move from New York City to Naples, Fla. Isaac’s growing attention to basketball and being away from his father had a dual impact: It made religion fade a bit into the background.

Early in his rookie year, before the injuries occurred and recurred, Isaac faced a spiritual choice. He believed in Christianity, but he did not know whether he wanted to devote himself to it. Searching for answers, he spent his spare time reading books, studying scripture and watching videos that defended Christianity against objections.

Meanwhile, he kept running into a stranger in his apartment building.

It was Hepburn, who also lives in the high-rise.

One day in the elevator, Hepburn said to Isaac, “I know what’s going to make you great.”

“What?” Isaac said.

“God,” Hepburn responded.

Not knowing Hepburn was a pastor, Isaac dismissed the interactions, figuring Hepburn wanted something from him.

In late November of his rookie year, Isaac and a friend, Magic player-development specialist Kevin Tiller, read a passage that made them want to help less fortunate people. So with Thanksgiving approaching, Isaac and Tiller planned to buy hamburgers from a local restaurant, drive around town and distribute the burgers to the homeless.

A few nights later, another strange coincidence occurred: After Isaac went to the movies in downtown Orlando, he ran into Hepburn in the parking lot.

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On a whim, Isaac invited Hepburn for a meal the next day.

Isaac remembers thinking to himself, “I don’t understand any of this, but God wants this dude in my life.”

Isaac told Hepburn about his plan to feed burgers to the homeless. Hepburn considered it a lovely gesture, but he didn’t like Isaac’s plan.

“If you’re going to feed people, you don’t feed them burgers,” Hepburn remembers telling Isaac. “If you’re going to do it, let’s do it right.”

They drove to a local Sam’s Club, and Isaac — still not knowing Hepburn was a pastor — shelled out about $700 to buy turkeys and other food.

For Isaac, it was a leap of faith.

The next morning, Hepburn texted Isaac an Orlando address and told Isaac the food would be served there.

When Isaac arrived, he was stunned to see a church had made flyers, set up tents behind a strip mall and had a line of 150 people waiting to eat.

Hepburn handed Isaac a hairnet and gloves, and Isaac spent the next hour dishing out food.

After Isaac was finished, he drove home and started to pray.

And then Isaac, overwhelmed by joy and fulfillment, wept.

A week later, Hepburn invited Isaac to a church service in the strip mall that houses J.U.M.P., which stands for “joyously unveiling the master’s plan.” Isaac thought he would attend the session with Hepburn as parishioners. But when the service started, Isaac was stunned to see Hepburn stand in front of the congregation of about 275 people and serve as the preacher.

Ask Hepburn now why he took an interest in Isaac, and Hepburn insists he never followed basketball until he met Isaac. In fact, Hepburn said that growing up in the Bahamas, the sport he enjoys most is track and field.

“Jonathan is just somebody that wants to become better, do better and just grow,” Hepburn said.

“As a minister, you always want to be able to see the best in somebody. You always believe and encourage their dream. If somebody believes something and desires something, our job is to believe that and speak to it and help them to become that.”

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Hepburn is married, and he and his wife, Phuong, have a 6-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter.

New residents often move into the apartment building where Durone, Phuong and their children live. Because they are parents, Phuong said, they were intrigued when they learned Isaac, just 19 years old, was living in a strange city all by himself. Phuong recalled thinking about how she would want her son or daughter to be treated if they ever moved someplace new on their own.

“When we connected with him, we didn’t know who he was,” Phuong said. “We found out he was just here by himself — no family, no friends, nothing. Just on his own. He was just a very quiet young man, and we were like, ‘How are you doing?’ He was very to himself. And after we got to know him, he just started opening up.”

What the Hepburns didn’t understand at first was that Isaac already had support systems in place.

Isaac’s mom and siblings lived in southwest Florida, and they were just a phone call or text message away.

Isaac also remained in touch with people at Florida State, especially Dennis Gates, an assistant basketball coach who recruited him several years earlier. Isaac and Gates are very close, and their talks became more frequent after Isaac suffered his injuries.

“It was tough because he wanted to be out there with his teammates,” Gates said. “Some of our conversations (went like), ‘Coach, I really want to be out there on that court with my teammates. I really want to be out there.’ And I could hear the passion in his voice. I could hear how he felt as if he was letting his teammates down.”

And of course, Magic executives, coaches, staff members and teammates also offered their support. In late December, Isaac re-injured his ankle yet again, and team officials decided to shut him down, let Isaac regroup and allow his ankle to heal completely.

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“Jonathan Isaac is easy to support because he’s such an outstanding guy with high character,” Magic general manager John Hammond said recently when asked about Isaac’s rookie season. “He wants to please, and you appreciate being around people like that. I think really what we did was what any good organization would do: support the player, encourage the player, understand where he is in his career, understand his youth, understand his body. The other great part of it was he worked as hard as he possibly could to get himself back healthy.

“I think he was very discouraged,” Hammond added. “He wants to play. He wants to contribute. And he wants to help. He wants to help the team. He’s one of those guys where it’s never about him. It’s always, ‘I’m letting others down. I’m not letting myself down. I’m letting others down.’ ”

As supportive as the Magic were, team officials and teammates couldn’t be with Isaac every moment of the day. Far from it. Isaac ultimately had to go home each day to his mostly empty apartment in a strange city.

He felt lonely.

The Hepburns and J.U.M.P. filled that void.

This journey has been a crazy one! With all my shortcomings, doubts, and unfaithfulness God has loved and kept me through it all! Thank you all for the encouragement and prayers! Please do me a favor and check out my sermon!! I hope this blesses you! ❤️https://t.co/8Ouyuox1bu

— Jonathan Isaac (@JJudahIsaac) September 12, 2018

At night, the Hepburns would sometimes visit Isaac and prepare an Epsom salt bath for his feet and ankles, hoping the time-honored remedy for alleviating aches and pains would help.

On many days, members of the congregation gather at 5:30 a.m. to pray for each other and for loved ones, and when Isaac was in town, he occasionally joined the other parishioners.

Knowing that other people were praying for him gave him additional peace of mind. He returned from his ankle issue on March 2 for the Magic’s 62nd game of the season. Two more injuries followed: a left foot strain and, later, a left ankle sprain.

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In all, he played in only 27 games as a rookie.

Although the people in his life were supportive, Isaac saw the talk on social media that his first year in the NBA had been a disappointment. He, too, was disappointed that he hadn’t been able to help his teammates more.

“The reason I got through it was because of the people at the church that I had around me, and it’s amazing,” Isaac said.

“I think back as to why I met Doc (Durone) or why Doc is in my life now as much as he is, and I think about what my rookie year (would) have been like if he wasn’t, with the same things that happened, with the injuries, with being out for so long, with all the talk and all the mental mind games and whatever. What would (that) have looked like if I didn’t have somebody telling me that I’m great, that I’m going to be great and God’s got me and teaching me the ways of what it means to be a Christian? It would have looked a lot different.”

Those bonds between Isaac and J.U.M.P. endure, as Magic point guard D.J. Augustin saw firsthand.

Before training camp this year, Augustin attended a J.U.M.P. service that Isaac led.

“Basically, they give him an opportunity to be a family away from his real family,” Augustin said. “Just for a young guy in the NBA to have a Christian background and have that faith — being in the NBA is hard to do. I think they’re helping him grow as a person and make all the right decisions. A lot of other young guys don’t have that opportunity.”

Before every game, Isaac will call Hepburn, and they speak briefly, just long enough for Hepburn to say a quick prayer on Isaac’s behalf.

No matter where Isaac is at the time — driving to an arena, on a table getting his ankles taped, sitting in front of his locker — the one- or two-minute prayer sessions give Isaac strength.

Members of the congregation know one of Isaac’s goals is to gain weight, so some people cook him homemade dishes — beans and rice or oxtail or jerk or curry chicken — that he can put in his oven and heat up when he’s hungry.

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“We have a bunch of mothers here,” Phuong said. “We make sure that he eats well.”

Twice since training camp this year, Isaac has come down on opposing players’ feet and injured his right ankle. And when the injuries occurred, he had J.U.M.P. Ministries supporting him.

On Nov. 2, after Isaac rolled his right ankle against the Los Angeles Clippers, Isaac called Durone.

“Well,” Hepburn remembered telling Isaac, “you took this test before. We know how to take this test again. You know what you’ve got to do. You put your foot in some Epsom salt, you soak your feet and you keep your head up.”

Isaac only missed six games and, wearing a new ankle brace, hasn’t had any troubles since.

On Dec. 10, coach Steve Clifford put Isaac back into the starting lineup. Clifford even played Isaac down the stretch of close victories over Chicago and Utah.

Clifford noted Isaac has made significant improvements to his shooting mechanics and has found new ways to separate himself from defenders. Isaac also remains a valuable defender.

“He’s a very mature, focused guy,” Clifford said.

Isaac’s local support system grew over the summer. In August, his mom Jackie, older brother Jacob and younger brother Jeremiah moved from Naples to nearby Windermere. It’s nice to have his family so close, but the church remains a central part of Isaac’s life.

Jacob, for one, is thankful that his brother found the Hepburns.

“Mentally, spiritually, I think they were huge for him,” Jacob said. “I know he met some great people that were able to help him when he was at his all-time low as far as his basketball career goes.”

On Nov. 19, inside J.U.M.P.’s space in the strip mall, Jonathan Isaac was all smiles.

Helping others still feels great.

Around 5 p.m. that day, the congregation finished serving its guests, and Isaac walked out from behind the serving table.

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The Hepburns’ children, son Chai-De and daughter Adonijah, ran over to him, and Adonijah leaped into Isaac’s arms.

The church, thanks to the people who worship there, is home.

“They really do have a love for me, and it’s not all about what I can do for them or what I can be or give or whatever,” Isaac said. “They want to make sure that I’m taken care of.”

(Top photo of Durone Hepburn and Jonathan Isaac: Courtesy of J.U.M.P. Ministries Global Church)

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