The Orlando Magic have not had the season they hoped to have.
The dreams of getting homecourt advantage were lost to the team's litany of injuries. But even with the injuries, the Magic have shown some undeniable weaknesses that need addressing in the offseason.
Even with that, everyone knows the Magic can play much better. It has just been hard to map the team's potential considering all the injuries and star power they have lacked. Most of the team's evaluation had to be put on hold because all of the key players were not available to play.
Still, it is undeniable the Magic have had many key players underperform this season. It is not just career-worst shooting seasons for several players spreading like a virus among the team this year. Orlando has had to work around players not performing the way the team hoped.
Success in a season is about the whole picture coming together. It is hard for the whole picture to come together the way they intend when players are underperforming.
So much of the last 26 games feels like a team trying to reclaim its potential. It feels like the team has to prove that the problems for this season were all about the injuries. That will not stop the necessary changes this offseason.
If the Magic make a playoff push and salvage something from this season or define this season as a success, they will need to see several players step up and play better to close the season.
Going to be writing about this coming out of the All-Star Break. Which player needs to step up the most to get the #Magic to the playoffs? Will share the results in the post!
— Orlando Magic Daily (@OMagicDaily) February 15, 2025
3. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Undoubtedly the biggest disappointment to the season thus far has been Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
The Orlando Magic signed him to a three-year, $66-million as their big offseason acquisition believing his defense would fit perfectly within their team structure and his shooting would provide some necessary space.
Caldwell-Pope has delivered on defense in just about every way. His shooting . . . that is another story.
Caldwell-Pope is shooting a career-worst 30.9 percent from three. He is shooting 31.7 percent on 3.6 catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts per game according to data from Second Spectrum.
This is not what the Magic signed up for, to say the least.
Nobody has a good answer for why Caldwell-Pope has struggled so much. Is there a lingering injury he has played through—Caldwell-Pope is notoriously durable and has missed only two games this season (one for the birth of a child and the other for some prescribed rest, which was odd)? Is it just a bad fit within the team's read-and-react offense? Did Nikola Jokic and LeBron James prop up his numbers in a way Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner can't?
The answer is probably somewhere in the middle.
The question or the hope is that Caldwell-Pope can find his stroke again.
In January he shot 36.4 percent from three and seemed to be finding his range. But he has shot 28.6 percent from three in six games in February.
The only bright spot is that Caldwell-Pope is shooting a career-best 57.8 percent on 2-point field goal attempts (albeit on a career-low 2.8 attempts per game).
The Magic need spacing badly and Caldwell-Pope is still their best shooter. They have to hope the time off reset him and that he can regain the form they thought they were buying.
2. Paolo Banchero
A team only goes as far as its star players. And the Orlando Magic put a lot of trust and faith in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner to carry this team. Both players have usage rates greater than 30 percent, the watermark of the superstar.
They are both star-quality players.
While Wagner has flourished this year and has not missed a beat since returning from a torn right oblique, Banchero has struggled since returning from injury.
Banchero is averaging 20.6 points per game and shooting just 40.6 percent overall in 17 games since returning from his two-month absence for a torn right oblique. The Magic have a positive plus-minus in just five of those games.
Banchero has looked slower and a little more hesitant since returning. He said after the Orlando Magic's win over the Sacramento Kings that he was still working himself back into game shape and hoped to rebuild his conditioning during the All-Star Break.
Banchero is averaging 22.5 points per game, just 0.1 points per game fewer than last year, but he feels like a long way from where he was last year. It feels like a lost season for Banchero with the injury.
But if the Magic are going to make a playoff push, it must start with Banchero finding his All-Star form again.
1. Wendell Carter
The Orlando Magic have had to pivot at center this year.
The team made a bet that Wendell Carter's frustrating 2024 season was the anomaly and that his mix of defense and shooting would provide the spacing and fulcrum the team would need to take the next steps. They gave him a max extension two years early quite surprisingly.
Carter had high hopes for the season. He aimed to play in all 82 games after injuries derailed him much of last season (and really throughout his career).
While Carter looked solid early on, almost immediately he suffered a knee injury. Then in his first game back he removed himself from the game with a foot injury as he was moved to tears of frustration for another prolonged absence.
Carter has never really gotten his feet under him. His 2025 season has been worse than his 2024 season.
Carter is averaging a career-low 8.8 points per game (his first time at less than 10 points per game) and is shooting a woeful 20.2 percent from three. Carter had some inherent flaws he constantly worked and outplayed. But without shooting, his effectiveness decreased dramatically.
Goga Bitadze has taken over the starting center spot. But Orlando is still holding onto the though of what Carter can be as a passer and screener in the high post and a three-point shooting threat. Carter is still as solid a defender as ever.
The hope is that Carter is starting to find his form and his rhythm off the bench. Especially with the Magic playing without offensive sparkplug Moe Wagner. The Magic need an offensive-minded Carter.
The good news is Carter is finding himself. He is averaging 9.1 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the floor in his last eight games since coming off the bench. He is at 10.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game on 45.7 percent shooting in his last 15 games.
That is some progress. But Orlando needs a consistent Carter to make their playoff push.