3 reasons to believe in the 2024 Orlando Magic

3 reasons to believe in the 2024 Orlando Magic

A top-heavy Eastern Conference

This year the Eastern Conference has its fair share of title contenders in the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks.

The Celtics and 76ers have gotten off to blistering starts. The Heat have struggled with injuries and load management to start the season. And the Bucks might be 5-4 but they still have a roster led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and newly traded-for Damian Lillard. They should be considered in that group too.

After that though, the East appears open for playoff seeds 5-10. And that is an opportunity for the Magic.

An open back half of the Eastern conference should give Magic players and their faithful a reason to believe the playoffs are a very real possibility.

The Magic have been up and down in the early part of the season. But they sit at 5-4 with wins over good Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angles Lakers teams. The team has a top-10 defense, sitting at fourth in the league giving up 105.8 points per 100 possessions.

That gives the team a clear identity and plenty of things to build off of. It gives them a formula to win more often than not despite some clear weaknesses.

If the Magic can get the best of the Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks or Cleveland Cavaliers among others during the season, they could play themselves not only to a play-in berth, but maybe even surpass that for a spot in the Playoffs proper.

While winning the East is a different conversation, being an above .500 team and competing for playoff contention should not only be a possibility, but a realistic goal for this Magic team.

Even at this early stage, the Magic look game for the competition.