The Orlando Magic have begun preparing for training camp, which begins in two weeks. Many of the players on the team are working out together at the AdventHealth Training Center now. The countdown to the start of the season has reached its final ticks.
There is undoubtedly a lot of excitement for this season in particular. The Magic are expected to contend for 50 wins and a spot near the top of the Eastern Conference standings. A lot is on the line.
The turn for that came not only from the way Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are emerging as clear All-Stars but from the acquisition of Desmond Bane.
Bane gives the Magic one of the biggest things they need: Shooting. He is a career 41.0 percent 3-point shooter. Additionally, he averaged at least 5.0 assists per game in each of the last two seasons.
Bane is not merely just a shooter, he is another attacker and scorer for a team desperate to help lighten the load on the two stars. Bane is comfortably in the top 50 over everyone's top 100 lists and could flirt with an All-Star berth in the right circumstance.
Bane is a floor raiser for the team.
But there is still a lot of work to do. As easily as it seems like Bane should fit in with the team, chemistry is a tricky thing. Everyone has to fill in and find their role.
This team still needs to come together.
Bane understood the leadership assignment
Desmond Bane understood that.
He told Josh Robbins of The Athletic, as he prepares for the season, that he sees his role not merely on the court as a shooter, but as someone who holds the team together. He wants to be the "glue guy" on the team.
When Bane arrived in Orlando, he said his first goal was to try to connect with his new teammates as best he could. He has spent some time in Orlando settling into his new home and working out at the team facility. But Bane knows he needs to be more.
The Orlando Magic are doing their part to come together, not merely by working out together as they file through the training center.
Bane revealed that several members of the team worked out together in Las Vegas last week. Anthony Black and Wendell Carter both posted Instagram stories from the Terence Crawford-Canelo Alvarez fight.
That is at least some time not only to work together on the court but to bond and integrate into the team further. Everyone senses the opportunity ahead for this Magic team. They seem eager to make the most of it.
Bane is one of the older players on the team at 27 years old, unbelievably. He has some of the most playoff experience on the team too, having won playoff series with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2022 and 2023.
Bane has a leadership role to play for this team. But it is still to be seen how he will pull this team together. And it is unclear if Paolo Banchero joined the group for the team get together in Vegas. Franz Wagner was in Latvia and Berlin celebrating Germany's EuroBasket championship.
Bane should be a simple fit
How everyone plays together is still the trick and the biggest thing the Orlando Magic will have to figure out.
Bane should fit in like a glove with this team, both from his personality and his basketball skills.
The shooting is the obvious way that he will boost the team. He is not merely just an excellent shooter, but he gets his 3-pointers in multiple ways, excelling as much as a pull-up 3-point shooter as a spot-up shooter.
In that way, Bane is going to fit in even more for this Magic team.
But what made Bane such a perfect fit is that he is not someone who will back down defensively, either. He is a talker who hounds opponents on defense, hoping to make up for his lack of wingspan and size.
He is also a solid pick-and-roll player and a much-improved passer. He is someone who can alleviate ball-handling duties from Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner and work to get them some easier shots. Bane can anchor lineups on his own, too.
But ultimately, Bane's role is to be that glue and help hold things together. He is there to be a floor spacer and help the offense work more smoothly. Just as he will be there to fit in and work with the team's defense.
Bane has spent a lot of time in Orlando and seemingly every photo the team has posted of the group working out has included him.
In two weeks, the whole team will get to see who this all comes together.