Projecting the Orlando Magic's 2025-26 starting lineup
The Orlando Magic have bet on continuity. It is something that has been central to Jeff Weltman's rebuilding philosophy. The continuity is something he believes will help young players grow and bring stability to help the team grow.
Who could argue with the results?
Ever since moving on from Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, and Evan Fournier in the 2021 season, the team has been meticulous about finding the right people to build the team around.
Striking rich with a strong draft in 2022 in grabbing Franz Wagner with the eighth pick and winning big with the top pick in the 2023 Draft in Paolo Banchero helped speed things along.
Orlando is still growing and developing despite the breakthrough into the playoffs last year and knocking on the door of advancing to the second round. The Magic are still trying to figure out just how far their team can go.
But continuity has been a big part of it. And despite the opportunity to make some major changes and upgrades this offseason, the team stuck with a lot of the same roster.
It appears the Magic are set to cement their starting lineup for years to come. The starting group of Jalen Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, and Wendell Carter are all under contract for at least the next two years.
Wagner has signed a new contract. Suggs and Banchero are expected to sign new deals by next summer at the latest. And Caldwell-Pope just signed a new three-year deal.
It does not seem like the Magic will shift their starting lineup soon. The group the Magic head into the 2025 season with likely will be the same group starting in 2026. A lot of this season will be seeing just how far this group can go.
This is a point of pride and excitement because so many pieces of this Magic team are still younger than 25 years old and performing well already. There is a lot of optimism and hope that they will continue to improve.
It is also a point of frustration because everyone senses this is a team that needs some major upgrades to get into title contention. And it seems the Magic are still assembling the trade pieces and figuring out which players they may be willing to sacrifice to get there.
Orlando will be a model of stability for the time being. It does not seem like there will be tons of changes. Not without seeing how the 2025 season plays out.
But there are still plenty of questions as the Magic solidify their starting lineup and start to ponder a more aggressive future.
As everyone expects, the Magic seem most likely to seek improvements at point guard and, especially, center as they plan their roster for 2026 and beyond. But for now, the Magic seem set to watch how the team performs in 2025 before making any hard and fast commitments.
For now, we can only predict the Magic will feature the same starting lineup in 2026 as they will in 2025. But there are certainly areas that may get tweaked.