The confetti is still likely getting swept off the streets of downtown Denver. The Denver Nuggets’ championship is now in the rearview mirror. The NBA Draft and the offseason is ahead.
For the Orlando Magic, it is an offseason of promise.
The team is coming off a strong season where the group improved its win total by 12 games. The Magic were the last team eliminated from postseason contention in the Eastern Conference with just three games remaining. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are anchoring a young group that seems poised for growth.
The franchise may not be willing to set expectations beyond the call to “level up” once more. But Banchero has put next year’s terms in the plainest terms: It’s playoffs or bust.
The Orlando Magic are a team that is poised to be on the rise and make the postseason next year. But they will have to take a spot from someone and fend off other contenders eager to rise too.
The Magic front office may not quite act with that kind of desperation as they assemble the 2024 team — they are still heavily invested in the young group they have built already and are going to give them a chance to keep growing. But the stakes are pretty clear.
After all, when you are the last team eliminated from postseason contention, what is the next level?
The Magic should bank and bet on internal improvement to help them get over that line. Players could take a sizable leap and lift the team into the postseason very easily.
But there are still 10 spots in the postseason every year. And those 10 teams are not going to let go of those spots so easily. Someone has to lose a spot in order for a team like the Magic to gain a spot. More importantly, the Magic are not the only team on the rise in the Eastern Conference.
That is what also should make this offseason urgent for the Magic. There are going to be a lot of teams eager to make the same leap as the Magic and precious few spots for them to leap into.
There just are not a lot of teams in the playoff picture who are ready to give up their spot.
The Magic are absolutely a team on the rise. And this list is not here to ignore the Magic’s rise.
This list is also not going to consider teams on the way down out of the postseason picture.
The Washington Wizards are seemingly preparing to trade Bradley Beal, and that domino will determine what happens with Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma in free agency. Last year’s 12-seed is likely on its way out of the postseason picture this season as they embark on their own major rebuild.
There will be plenty of other dominos to fall as teams assess what their future should be — a weak 2024 draft class may cause teams to hang on just a little bit longer if they should move toward rebuilding.
But this is the landscape of the Eastern Conference before we dive into those offseason maneuverings.