The Orlando Magic have been informally getting together at the AdventHealth Training Center -- and for one weekend in Las Vegas -- for the last several weeks as they prepare for the 2026 season.
But Monday's media day is the more official beginning of the 2026 season. They will get their photos taken in the new uniforms and take care of a lot of the in-arena video and games, and media requirements. On Tuesday, they begin training camp and the journey to meet the expectations they have set for themselves.
The Magic entered last training camp with high expectations for themselves. It was easily the most anticipated season for the Magic since they were competing for the championship in 2010.
Orlando fell short of those expectations because of injuries and internal stagnation. But the team upped the ante this offseason. The Magic acquired an All-Star-level player in Desmond Bane to support their young core. They were not going to sit idly by.
And now the team itself is setting high expectations for itself. The usually quiet president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman made it clear the Magic are not merely taking advantage of an injured Eastern Conference. They want to compete and win the NBA title in the coming years.
They are certainly putting together a team with a payroll that should be competing for a championship. Orlando has to take that important step this year.
It is a major season for the Magic no matter where they end up. They have the expectation to win 50 games and win a playoff series at minimum, it seems. That puts a lot of pressure on every player.
And with the attendant cap pressures, players who do not meet expectations are surely going to be shipped out to try to find the right formula to compete at a higher level.
As the Magic enter this critical season, everyone has a lot to answer. These are the critical questions for every player.
Paolo Banchero: Can Banchero be more efficient?
Quite simply, everyone can recognize that Paolo Banchero puts up the raw stats befitting of a superstar. But that is not how stars are judged anymore. Not in a world of constant conversation and debate and analytics giving everyone access to a more detailed understanding of what is happening.
Banchero's biggest detractors have focused on his relative inefficiency. He settles for mid-range jumpers, and the team does not seem to play as well with him on the floor. There are reasons for that -- a lot of them having to do with the team's poor spacing. On top of that, Banchero was much more efficient when he was healthy, posting a 58.1 percent true shooting percentage after the All-Star Break.
The Magic went to work trying to get rid of the excuses for Banchero's inefficiency. They added more shooting in Desmond Bane to give their stars more space. They found a player who could help lighten the load.
It is now on Banchero to be a leader, pick his spots and be more efficient. If the Magic are the title-contending team they think they are, it starts with him.
Franz Wagner: Can the Magic succeed with Wagner's spotty 3-pointer?
Franz Wagner has proven time and time again that he is a force to be reckoned with. Whether it was in his breakout season last year or in EuroBasket, Wagner can push to the basket and score seemingly at will if he gets downhill.
Wagner faced a lot of questions last year about his ability to star. If there was one silver lining to Paolo Banchero's injury, it was that it pushed Franz Wagner to the leading role. And he thrived in it. It gave him another level of confidence to lead on both ends. Even after his own injury, he showed up in big moments and was key during the Playoffs.
Still, everything centers on Wagner's 3-point shooting. For the second straight year, he finished shooting worse than 30 percent from deep.
Wagner can succeed without elite 3-point shooting, but inevitably in the playoffs someone will expose that weakness. If the Magic are going to compete for a championship, Wagner will need to be a threat from three. He will be called on to make a big shot at some point.
The question is how deep into the Playoffs will that become a problem or will Wagner become more reliable from deep?
Desmond Bane: Will Bane's 3-point shooting change the Magic's offense?
Everyone sensed that everything changed for the Orlando Magic the moment they acquired Desmond Bane on Father's Day in May. Bane represented everything the Magic could need -- an elite 3-point shooter with volume, a willing defender, a secondary playmaker, and so much more. Bane checked off so many boxes the Magic needed to solve.
Now comes the hard and not-so-straightforward part: How do you integrate Bane into the group? How do you make sure this is not a repeat of the struggles of adding another supposed good shooter in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope?
Bane is a completely different player from Caldwell-Pope. Caldwell-Pope was always a stationary shooter, a complementary player. Bane is a primary player. He is someone who is going to take the ball and go and look to score on his own.
The options that Bane brings to the table are enough to transform the offense. The question is how much and how high can the Magic rise? If they want to compete for a title, they will need their offense to be among the best in the league.
Jalen Suggs: Can Suggs' frenetic energy last deep into the Playoffs?
Jalen Suggs promised after the season ended last year, even while he was rehabbing from his knee injury, that he would not change the way he played. He is always willing to sacrifice his body and mix things up with opposing players. Suggs is a dynamo on the floor.
But the fact too is that he has struggled to stay on the court. Various nagging injuries hae kept him off the floor in three of his four seasons. The one season he played more than 70 games was that breakthrough season. The Magic need a healthy Suggs on the floor.
Suggs' status to open the season is one of the key questions during media day -- the team said they are aiming for him to be ready on opening night. He is recovering from his knee surgery to clean up cartilage and hopefully prevent future issues. It was a more complex surgery than that to treat a potential long-term issue. Orlando is clearly being a bit cautious to ensure they have Suggs for the long haul.
Part of the goal for the Magic is to get Suggs to the Playoffs. Without him, a lot of things could fall apart.
Wendell Carter: Can Carter's versatility transcend his limitations?
The Orlando Magic have four starters who are seemingly locked into place for the long term. They have four players who are making hefty salaries and will severely pinch the team's ability to spend in the future. All eyes are on the center position to see if Wendell Carter can fill that void.
Carter had a strange season last year. He played a career high in games, but also averaged a career low in almost every offensive category. Still, he was supremely valuable on defense, and everyone credits him for cleaning up many of the team's mistakes and errors.
At media day, players said Carter may not block a lot of shots, but he does the work so that players do not get to a point where they need a shot blocked. That is on top of his ability to defend the perimeter as a center. There is a reason Desmond Bane has been insistent that Wendell Carter is the team's X-factor.
Everyone wants to see Carter put all the pieces together and be the bulwark for this team's defense. They need to see him overcome some of the things that have held him back to get there.