Magic fans will see only a few unfamiliar faces on their team this season. Despite the team’s struggles in the playoffs, the front office decided to bring back pretty much the same roster. The Magic opted not to re-sign Joe Ingles and Markelle Fultz in free agency but gave new contracts to Gary Harris, Goga Bitadze, and Moritz Wagner. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cory Joseph, and Tristan da Silva are the only new faces in Orlando.
The Magic are betting heavily on internal improvement, especially from their guards, to build on last season’s success. As a result, a few players will have to fill roles they are not used to quite yet.
3. Jalen Suggs
This is the biggest one. All eyes have been on Jalen Suggs ever since the Magic decided not to chase an impactful point guard during the offseason. Cory Joseph is a traditional point guard, but he is not expected to play heavy minutes. Signing him was more of an insurance to make sure the team had a point guard to fall back on in times of need.
Someone who is already on the roster will have to step up as a playmaker. If the playoffs revealed one thing, it was that the Magic needed someone other than Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner to create offense and make plays for others. Suggs is the obvious answer to that problem. He is widely regarded as the third core guy for the Magic and one of the young two-way guards on the rise.
Improving as a playmaker is the next logical step for him. The question is just whether he can take that step this season or if his development will take some more time. It will definitely be a serious adjustment for him to make.
Suggs’ preseason debut as the team’s starting point guard was not very inspiring. In 17 minutes, he turned the ball over five times and dished out only two assists. Just a game later, things already looked better. Suggs did not turn the ball over at all against the Spurs but also only recorded one assist in 22 minutes on the court.
2. Anthony Black
Anthony Black is the one player fans seem most eager to see on the court this season. Black came to the Magic as the sixth overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft but did not get the same opportunity high lottery picks usually get. Rather than getting a chance to experiment and play through mistakes, Black found himself at the end of the bench.
Injuries pushed him into the rotation and even the starting lineup for a while, but he still only played 69 regular season games and did not put up mind-blowing numbers. He was stuck in the guard rotation behind Jalen Suggs, Gary Harris, Cole Anthony, and Markelle Fultz. The Magic elected not to re-sign Fultz during the offseason, seemingly making room for Black to slide into the rotation.
When Black played last season his role was limited. He has great size and defensive abilities as well as a promising 3-point shot, but the Magic did not ask him to do too much during his rookie season. That should change this year.
Black will likely get his chance to run the second unit and provide some secondary playmaking. In the Magic’s preseason opener, he even led the team in assists, and Summer League showed how much work he put in to become a better playmaker and table-setter.
Still, this will be an adjustment. Black is not used to playing significant NBA minutes pretty much every game or to being asked to make plays for himself and his teammates.
This season will be crucial for Black, though. It will be his first chance to put up numbers more fitting for a sixth-overall pick and to establish himself as one of the players the Magic see in the team’s long-term future.
1. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will not have to get used to a new role as much as to new expectations. The veteran knows what it takes to win and knows how to play his role almost to perfection. He did not win two championships by chance. Caldwell-Pope is one of the top 3-and-D wings in the game.
And yet, going from the Denver Nuggets to the Orlando Magic will be a change. The Nuggets were a much more veteran team. Meanwhile, the Magic are incredibly young and will need his experience and leadership much more than the teams he previously played for.
On the court, things should look rather different as well. With the Nuggets, Caldwell-Pope was a complimentary player. He will be that with the Magic, too, but the expectations for his impact are incredibly high.
Denver did not take many threes last season, but they still shot them well, hitting over 37 percent of their threes. Caldwell-Pope was not the only impactful shooter on the team. In Orlando, he will easily be the best 3-point shooter, and the team’s success will hinge on how many threes he takes and how many he converts.
Caldwell-Pope averages 4.6 3-point attempts per game for his career. That might not be enough to make a lasting impact on the Magic’s offense. He will have to take more shots, even if it means stepping out of his comfort zone. Plus, playing with Nikola Jokic means you will get plenty of good looks and easy shots. The Magic do not have an offensive hub like that.