The one common thread tying the Orlando Magic's most successful lineups together

The offseason always brings some level of uncertainty.

Even players who are secure or who have been with the team for a long time must feel some sense of apprehension. Nobody really knows what the team is thinking or what they will do until they do it.

After a third straight first-round exit and a disappointing season that saw the Orlando Magic battle injuries and fail to meet expectations, the team is thinking about many big questions and big issues with the team.

The Magic want to do more. They believe they can be among the contenders in the Eastern Conference with their youth and size. Their dismissal of coach Jamahl Mosley was a sign that the team was not satisfied with the results.

And even though the team is signaling that it wants to give its starting five another extended look, they may soon face the reality that they have no choice but to break it up to make a trade to improve the roster.

The Magic are indeed in a dangerous spot. They are spending like a winning team. But still have a lot of roster questions to fill -- from their depth to the development at the top of the roster.

One of the key decisions the Magic will make this summer is whether to stick with the starting group for another year or break it up to build depth or find improvements.

That decision is centered a lot on Jalen Suggs. He seems the odd man out with another potentially large contract in Anthony Black getting set to come onto the books after his extension, and the Magic not having many big salaries to split up.

But there is something else the Magic need to consider, too: Almost all of their best lineups include Suggs.

The Magic had only nine lineups play at least 50 minutes, six of them had a positive net rating, four of them, including the top three, included Suggs.

The Magic had 30 lineups play at least 24 minutes together, 20 had a positive net rating and eight of those 20 included Suggs.

That is what complicates any trade decision the Magic will make this offseason and moving forward. Suggs is a player who supercharges so many players and lineups for the team.

Suggs is a boost on the floor

That so few lineups played together and that the Orlando Magic's best lineups did not get much time together speaks to how much injuries -- including a hip injury and a sprained MCL for Jalen Suggs in December and January -- affected the roster and who played together.

The Magic's top lineup last year that played at least 50 minutes together was a bench group anchored with Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs alongside Goga Bitadze, Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva. That group posted a 121.7 offensive rating and 88.9 defensive rating (+32.8 net rating) in 55 total minutes in nine games together.

The Magic's preferred starting lineup of Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bane, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter had a 117.3 offensive rating and 105.7 defensive rating (+11.6 net rating) in 182 minutes across 19 games.

Suggs is a common factor in many of the best lineups.

You can see that in more individualized data too.

For the season, the Magic had a +5.2 net rating with Suggs on the floor, the highest on-court net rating among the Magic's regular rotation players. The team's 108.4 defensive rating with Suggs on the floor trailed only Jonathan Isaac and the team's 113.6 offensive rating was even with Desmond Bane.

More importantly, all of the Magic's best players were simply better with Suggs on the floor.

The Magic had a +7.3 net rating (117.8/110.6 offensive/defensive rating split) with Jalen Suggs and Paolo Banchero on the floor together. The Magic had a -4.9 net rating (114.0/118.9) with Banchero on the floor without Suggs.

They had a +9.2 net rating (118.6/109.4) with Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner on the floor together and a -3.8 net rating (114.5/118.3) with Wagner on the floor without Suggs. Orlando was at +6.4 points per 100 possessions (116.6/110.2) with Suggs and Bane together and -3.1 (114.8/117.9) with just Bane on the floor.

Even Anthony Black benefited from Jalen Suggs' presence. The team was +15.9 (118.9/102.9) when the duo was on the floor together and -4.6 (114.4/119.0) with Black on the floor alone.

Things changed in the Playoffs. Many of those numbers turned negative -- Game 6 weighing heavily on those stats. And Suggs' struggles in the Playoffs are something the Magic will weigh moving forward.

But the Magic will likely look back at their season and realize how much Suggs correlated to their success. He was a key ingredient in what they are doing.

Proving it again

The challenge for every team and every season is to prove that you can do it again. Everything starts from square one in training camp.

That is even more the case for the Orlando Magic now that they are hiring a new coach in Sean Sweeney. Nobody knows what ideas and concepts he will have for this team and how those players will react to that.

One of the key questions for the Magic will remain whether Suggs can give the Magic what they need from that lead guard spot, giving them consistent shooting in addition to his often manic and intense defense.

Orlando does not seem keen to part with such a key player even after a frustrating postseason. There will still be a lot of attention on it.

But the stats clearly show that the Magic should be careful with Suggs. There may not be a more impactful player as things stand.

And that is not something the team can simply give away.

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