Orlando Magic games that should be on national TV in the 2024 season

NBA Summer League is in the rearview mirror for the Orlando Magic.

The team has a full roster — except for two two-way slots to fill — and everything seems set for the 2024 season. That is where everyone’s eyes officially will turn to.

Orlando is set to hold is annual media day on Oct. 2 and begin training camp Oct. 3. That feels like a long time from now. But everyone will have to wait until then for Magic basketball to return.

The last piece of the puzzle then to the Magic’s much-anticipated 2024 season is the schedule. And with free agency mostly completed — Damian Lillard and James Harden’s pending trade requests are the last piece of the puzzle — everyone is just waiting for the schedule to come out so everyone can set their lives from October through April.

And hopefully later.

The last part of the offseason puzzle to fill is the Orlando Magic’s schedule for the 2024 season. And with hopes for a playoff season, here are matchups the team should hope get the national TV shine.

The NBA schedule typically is released in early- to mid-August. So there are still a few weeks before the NBA finalizes its schedule for the season.

Still, everyone is looking forward to seeing the 82-game roadmap to the Magic’s hopeful playoff ascendance. And one of the elements everyone will look forward to is whether the Magic will get their share of national TV appearances after getting only one non-NBATV appearance last year (at least until it was taken away thanks to Chet Holmgren’s Summer League injury).

Which games will or should get the Magic on the national stage?

These games feel worthy enough to be shown on national TV. They are based on the competitiveness and what the opposing teams have to offer as far as players they have, how good they are, etc.

1. Orlando Magic v. San Antonio Spurs: Magic Take on Wembanyama

The Orlando Magic are one of those teams in the NBA with a bright young core. The San Antonio Spurs are also in a similar boat to the Orlando Magic. On top of that, they drafted one of the most highly anticipated number-one overall picks in recent memory in Victor Wembanyama.

At 7-foot-4, Wembanyama is a franchise-changing player and he really brings a spark to a Spurs team that already has a lot of potential across the board. They are a well-coached team that ranked fifth in the NBA in assists which is typical of a Greg Popovich squad.

The Orlando Magic opened their season last year against the Detroit Pistons in a matchup of the previous two top overall picks. And that is certainly something that can grab the marquee after Banchero had a historic rookie season.

Even if Banchero deserves his space on the marquee, the national networks are going to be sure to try to put Wembanyama on TV as much as possible. That will be a fun matchup for sure.

There are a lot of other young stars on this team who have shown and taken impressive strides. Upcoming second-year player Jeremy Sochan was a relatively productive scorer and rebounder as he averaged 11 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in 26 minutes per game last year.

Another star that is garnering some attention is Keldon Johnson who averages 22.0 points per game and, much like Jeremy Sochan, is also a really good rebounder averaging 5.0 per game.

Last season, the Magic split their series with the Spurs with both teams holding serve on their home court. The win and loss for Orlando both were by a margin of around 18-20 points. This means that a game between the two squads once again would be a contest that could either way.

The split series from a year ago, the comparative young core and the matchup with Wembanyama make it a potential for national TV.

2. Orlando Magic v. Miami Heat: Sunshine State Rivalry Reborn

It was not the best matchup last season for the Orlando Magic against the Miami Heat. Orlando went 1-3 against the team’s in-state rivals and has won just two out of the last 10 against Miami. All-time, Miami has the series lead on Orlando 79-60.

Still, the games were entertaining. The two games at Amway Center went to overtime. And even the first game against the Heat in Miami went down to the wire. The final game came in the last game of the season.

Orlando’s return win over Miami in March might have been the team’s best win of the season.

The Heat have also seen lots of success recently making two NBA Finals in the past three seasons and have been to the conference finals in three out of the last four seasons.

The Magic have also scored on or better than the NBA average of points against the Heat in all four of their contests this past season. This means that are clearly able to become more competitive on the offensive end of the floor against Miami in the future.

The ability to keep up with the Heat on offense and the idea surrounding a grand revival of the sunshine state rivalry is a great opportunity to get this game back on national TV. One would say that the game itself will get even better with the Orlando Magic getting even more competitive.

3. Orlando Magic v. Los Angeles Lakers: Paolo Banchero v. LeBron James

A matchup that would be something to see.

LeBron James and Paolo Banchero going at it in a matchup for the ages. Two great players on the wing with great drives to the rim on the offensive end.

They take and make a bunch of field goals making them really efficient scorers with Banchero and James averaging 6 and 11 field goals made per game last season. They took a staggering 15 and 22 field goal attempts per game last year as well.

This game happened once last season back in December.  It was a game in which James thrived while Banchero struggled a bit. Banchero finished with four points on 1-for-6 shooting from the field. He did have five rebounds but only played 22 minutes that game thanks to foul trouble.

James had 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists during 31 minutes of playing time. He did this on 50-percent shooting from the field.

Although the first matchup between the two teams may not be competitive, a match between two scorers that have proven to be very efficient on the wings. This is deserving to make the Magic and Lakers a nationally televised game.

The Magic will wait for the full schedule to come out sometime in August. And hopefully, the team will have earned a few opportunities to showcase themselves in front of a national audience.