Summer League is over, so what’s next for the 2024 Orlando Magic?

The NBA offseason comes at you fast.

Once the NBA Finals ends, it is a sprint to get all the work down with the NBA Draft taking place just a few days after the championship parade, free agency happening the following week and the yearly convention in Las Vegas for Summer League shortly after.

For a month, the NBA does not relent. There is no time to celebrate a championship, every team is already getting ready to compete for the next one.

Even for teams that were long eliminated from the postseason, the offseason seems to take forever to arrive and in a snap it is over. Leaving teams and fans with the nothingness of August without NBA basketball and the anticipation for the upcoming season.

With the end of Summer League, we have reached the NBA’s rest period on the calendar. Still, the Orlando Magic will be busy in the countdown to training camp.

We have reached the dead period of the NBA calendar. Unless or until the Portland Trail Blazers deal Damian Lillard or the Philadelphia 76ers deal James Harden, there is not much more to get to this offseason until training camp begins in October.

With the Magic’s roster full minus those pesky two two-way slots left to fill, the Magic will be quiet until training camp begins.

That does not mean they — or we — will be quiet until then. There are still a few things coming up on the calendar to get us through the offseason and to keep an eye out.

So while the busy part of the offseason is done, there is still basketball to digest before we get to the 2024 season.

What’s left in the Orlando Magic’s 2023 offseason

July & August: Pro-Am Runs

The first thing to get to is the pro-am runs that pop up throughout the country. Those are going on right now. And players are getting their time on the court in game — or quasi-game — situations right now and throughout July and August.

We already know that Paolo Banchero is scheduled to appear at the CrawsOver in Seattle as he did last year. He is among several NBA players expected to jump in for play over the next few weekends.

In all likelihood, Banchero will make his appearance in Seattle this weekend with Team USA training cap set to start in early August. Hopefully, there will be another 50-point game but no incidents with fellow Seattle natives to report from his play.

There are a few pick-up runs going on behind closed doors too.

Local basketball trainer Iren Rainey organized private pick-up runs for local players in the Orlando area who are in town. You may have seen the photo of Magic legends Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross and Mario Hezonja all together from over the weekend. That is where this is from.

And Cole Anthony has posted on his social media channels some of his highlights from these pick-up runs. Other Magic players may also be participating in these private games.

They are not alone getting on the court. Everyone is going to get on the court in some form or fashion.

Jalen Suggs pulled up at a pro-am run in Minneapolis on Monday night too. Everyone is getting their work in on the court right now.

Then of course players will still be getting their work in the AdventHealth Training Center.

That is always open for Magic players to get their work in. And Wendell Carter has posted some of his work with Rainey inside the training center as has Chuma Okeke some of his workout videos.

This is the time of the offseason where everyone is getting their work in. And everyone is going to find a gym to get that work done somewhere. Somehow.

Basketball indeed never sleeps. And so everyone is doing their work on their own time right now. They will find a game whether we see it publicly or not.

What’s left in the Orlando Magic’s 2023 offseason

Aug. 25-Sept. 10: FIBA World Cup

The biggest event for the rest of the offseason is the FIBA World Cup taking place in late August and early September in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. Yes, get ready for some early morning basketball for those of us living on the East Coast.

The Orlando Magic are going to have a very large contingent of players participating in this big international tournament.

Paolo Banchero made his much-contested decision to play for Team USA and will suit up the U.S. in the tournament. He is expected to come off the bench at least based off last year’s stats. But that could change if he has taken significant steps forward this offseason.

He will report to Las Vegas in early August for U.S.A. training camp that will culminate with a friendly against Puerto Rico in Las Vegas on August 7. The team will then head to Spain for a pair of games before going to the United Arab Emirates for the much-hyped matchup with Germany before the team settles in the Philippines. (h/t to our friends from The Sixth Man Show for the awesome and handy graphics below).

Despite sending a roster short on international experience, the U.S. should still be considered the favorite to win the tournament. Even with Greece in their group, they are favored to advance out of their group. And they will camp in Manilla for the entire tournament. They open World Cup play Aug. 26 against New Zealand and play Greece and Jordan.

If there is a team that could spoil the proceedings for the U.S. it might be Germany, fresh off a bronze medal in Eurobasket last year. We got introduced to FIBA Franz Wagner last year in what was a breakout performance for the rising NBA sophomore.

Wagner will again be a featured player for one of the contenders for the World Cup title. He will be joined this time by his brother Moe Wagner, provided Moe does not injure his ankle in training camp this time around too.

https://twitter.com/SixthManShow/status/1680688818033160195

Germany plays its first exhibition game on Aug. 5 against Sweden and will have that big warmup game against the U.S. in the United Arab Emirates.

Germany should be good to advance out of the group stage too — the top two teams in each group advance to the knockout round. Circle that game on Aug. 27 against Australia.

That may well be a lot of our introductions to new Magic acquisition Joe Ingles.

Ingles is expected to play for Australia this summer once again. He has a sterling international record, averaging 11.2 points per game at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (they took place in 2021) and 10.5 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game at the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

Finally, Goga Bitadze is set to suit up for Georgia as they make their FIBA World Cup debut. Georgia does have a shot of advancing, but Slovenia and Venezuela are likely the favorites to make it out of their group.

That is a lot of players for the Magic who will be playing some high-level basketball entering the season. Orlando may have to rely on some familiarity to let them get up to speed as they recover some.

But, by the same token, a lot of players on the Magic — including two starters — will be playing high-level basketball and should be firing on all cylinders when they return home. Hopefully, too there will be a few medals brought home with them.

Certainly, all these players will be made better for the experience — provided they avoid injuries.

What’s left in the Orlando Magic’s 2023 offseason

August: The Schedule
Oct. 2-3: Media Day & Training Camp

The last piece before the Orlando Magic can get to work of course is the release of the NBA’s 2023-24 schedule. That will come at some point in August — although surely the TV executives at ESPN and TNT are trying to hold out as long as they can to see where Damian Lillard might land.

This upcoming season will see the league introduce the In-Season Tournament. So the Orlando Magic already know they will face the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets at some point in November as part of that tournament.

The schedule is an important last step in the offseason because it makes the upcoming season real. Suddenly the season is not merely just a roster on paper, but it has a roadmap. We can find the trouble spots and find the areas where the team has to perform to achieve its goals.

We are already looking forward to the games we might see on national TV and who this young Magic team could stand up to.

Schedule day is an oasis in the vast NBA desert that is August and September. And we will take our time breaking it down.

September is really quiet on the NBA calendar. After the World Cup ends, everyone will head to their home markets, enjoy their last bits of vacation before gathering for training camp.

Typically most players will return to their home markets around Labor Day to start getting in some player-organized workouts and pick-up runs in the team’s training facility.

So everything is obviously leading up to the opening of training camp in October. It feels far away right now, but it will be here sooner than we think.