No one was happy with how the Orlando Magic's season ended.
It was not even about the unfulfilled feeling of losing a 3-1 lead or the embarrassment of the loss in Game 6.
Everyone was optimistic about what the team could accomplish after acquiring Desmond Bane in the offseason. They were all disappointed they never truly got the chance to see what they could do. And further frustrated that every time it felt like they were turning a corner, they would trip and fall all over themselves.
How can anyone explain a team that got off to a hot enough start to reach the NBA Cup semifinals, only to exchange wins and losses for the next 14 games after losing in Las Vegas? Or winning seven games in a row just to lose its next six?
Or a team that is scrambling to stay in the Playoff hunt, losing by 52 and 29 points to two teams they were directly competing with? Or going on a late six-game win streak only to lose to an undermanned Boston Celtics team in a must-win regular-season finale?
The Magic were hardly consistent. Nobody could put a finger on why things went so wrong. Even two months after the season ended.
The Magic's response was to change coaches, firing Jamahl Mosley after the season ended and hiring Sean Sweeney. The roster remained virtually the same.
While that was a ringing endorsement from management of what this team could be, it also means the Magic have put a lot of pressure on its players to deliver on that potential, especially considering the tax implications.
And doing that means the players must lead a culture change of sorts.
A new theme
Franz Wagner has clearly been thinking about this in the early part of his offseason.
Wagner has spent most of his offseason in Germany and Europe. That is normal for him. He spoke to HoopsHype after an adidas basketball camp in Italy and spoke to the German magazine BASKET for its cover story in its latest issue.
He is working first to get healthy after the frustrating high ankle sprain ate up most of his season and delayed his return to April, and then a calf injury ended his Playoffs just as he said he started feeling a lot better.
Wagner appears to be back on the court in some capacity, if he is not at full bore. There are still nearly three months before training camp begins on Sept. 29.
But he is also thinking about how the Magic need to adjust to reach the potential they missed last season. It will take a different approach to the season.
Wagner, one of the team's unquestioned leaders and one of its best players, said the Magic needed a new attitude and a new urgency to meet their expectations. Their approach to the season must be different.
That goes for everyone.
"A major theme for us is 'accountability,' meaning a sense of responsibility, and the importance of urgency—not necessarily pressure, but a certain way of coming to work each day," Wagner told BASKET (translation by Google). "And there can be no distinctions based on personality. It applies equally to everyone. There needs to be a clear culture. And discipline. These are precisely the things I've heard about Sweeney so far."
There certainly seems, at the very least, to be a much more serious approach to this season. I would not read this as Franz Wagner calling anyone out or even throwing shade at coach Jamahl Mosley.
Wagner admitted elsewhere in the interview that after five years with Mosley, Mosley had lost the power of his voice. That is a natural thing when a team is together for so long. It certainly felt like the team was reaching back for something they thought they could lean back on, and it was not there.
Whether Sweeney can find that extra gear the Magic lost will be the next question. But even if Sweeney has the best ideas and the clearest message, it will be up to the players to execute that vision.
If anyone on the team knows what it takes to win big, it is Wagner. He and Tristan da Silva helped lead Germany to a EuroBasket title last summer. Wagner has been part of the growth of the German national team that won a World Cup in 2023 and EuroBasket in 2025.
The Magic do not have much playoff or championship experience. Wagner's national team success is at least a taste of what it takes for a team to come together and lift a trophy.
There is a lot of work for the Magic to make good on their potential and make up for last season and its frustrations.
The pressure is on
Franz Wagner is saying the team is not feeling pressure, but that pressure is still there nonetheless.
Orlando cannot keep justifying the massive expense for this team or sit and waste prime years for Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner with a team that struggles to escape the Play-In. The degree of the changes the Magic must make will depend on how they perform.
A lot is on the line this season. Whether they want to admit it or not.
Wagner's health is certainly a big piece of the Magic's potential for success this year. If Orlando wants to meet its internal expectations and change the external expectations, the team will need everything to fall into place.
It seems at the very least Wagner is determined to make some changes to his appraoch and hope to influence how the team approaches things.
He said that in his early conversations with Sean Sweeney seemed to have been satisfied that there would be a more disciplined and intense approach to things. But everything is still developing. Those conversations will continue (the interview with BASKET appears to have taken place at that adidas camp in Italy).
Despite all the frustrations, not much has changed in the Magic's roster. And so that means the players must change their approach to get different results.
It seems the team is maturing some, humbled by defeat as they prepare for the 2027 season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google