4 Studs and 2 duds from the Orlando Magic’s final preseason game 

Preseason had been rather quiet for the Orlando Magic. Most of it happened behind closed doors and not out on the court during games. The Magic only played three preseason games since their rematch against the New Orleans Pelicans in Orlando was canceled. 

Before last night, the Magic had not even won a preseason game yet, falling to both the Pelicans and the Spurs. Against the 76ers, the Magic finally got a win, taking the game by 15 points. The 76ers were without Joel Embiid and Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey only played five minutes. Nevertheless, the game was still close throughout the first half. So, we should not put too much emphasis on the win. 

And yet, it was nice to see several Magic players show up and perform well. After all, this was the last chance to play against another team until the start of the regular season. 

Stud: Paolo Banchero 

Seeing Paolo Banchero put up big numbers is no surprise for Magic fans. Against the 76ers, he was the Magic’s leading scorer by far. In roughly 24 minutes, he scored 21 points on 8-13 shooting from the field. Banchero was an efficient scorer from all over the place, also converting one of his two 3-point attempts and four of his five chances at the free-throw line.

Especially the latter two are encouraging. Banchero was not a great 3-point shooter last season, and improvements from him and Wagner will be crucial to taking the Magic’s offense to the next level. 

Likewise, the Magic left plenty of points on the line last season. Banchero gets a lot of free throws and needs to convert them at a high clip. The Magic will need all the points they can get if they want to rise through the Eastern Conference ranks. 

Stud: Jalen Suggs

Jalen Suggs did not have a great game shooting-wise. He converted only three of his eight field goal attempts and could not hit any of his four attempts from long range. He did other things, though. 

As a scorer, Suggs did not stop looking for his shots, even if they weren’t falling, and was rewarded with seven free throws. He hit six of them on his way to 12 points. It was also his defense that finally got the Magic’s offense going early in the game. Suggs recorded four steals and one block. 

The most impressive number in his box score was the seven assists he dished out. Suggs is asked to do a lot and step out of his comfort zone as the team’s technical starting point guard. The Magic need someone to step up as a playmaker, and Suggs is under a lot of pressure to be that person. 

His first preseason game did not look very promising, as he amassed turnovers rather than assists. That changed quickly. Seeing Suggs dish out seven assists while only turning the ball over twice was incredibly encouraging. Now, he just needs to carry this over to the regular season and start hitting threes again.