The Orlando Magic arrived in Europe struggling to find consistency, dealing with loads of injuries, and hoping to get a key player back for their game in London. They were still filled with high hopes for what they could make of their season.
That sounds familiar right?
That was the situation the Orlando Magic faced when they traveled to London for a one-off game against the Toronto Raptors in January 2016. The Magic were on shaky ground as January began, but they were experiencing their most successful season since Dwight Howard's departure.
The Magic lost that game in overtime to the Raptors. But that was only a preview of the mess that was coming.
Orlando lost its next six games as part of a season-wrecking eight-game losing streak. The Magic lost 11 of 12 games to fall from fifth in the East on Dec. 30 to eighth when they went to London to 12th and out of the Playoff race.
Longtime Magic fans know what happened next -- reports came out that coach Scott Skiles had soured on the team and checked out; he would resign suddenly at the end of the season; the team salary dumped Tobias Harris for Brandon Jennings and expiring contracts to create cap room before ht cap spike; the Magic would trade Victor Oladipo and the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis for Serge Ibaka on draft night; and the team would use that cap space to sign Bismack Biyombo for a disastrous three-center alignment. Any hope of the post-Dwight rebuild working went way out the window.
This is a cautionary tale.
The Magic are not in the same dire straits now as they head across the pond for their games in Berlin and London. They have two established stars in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner and the bones of a long-term playoff team -- if not one that can compete for something bigger.
But that trip -- which happened at Game 39 in the season -- showed how much of a tipping point the middle part of the season can be. This is the time of year the Magic must make their move.
This is the part of the season the Magic will either become the Playoff team they hope to become or will struggle to fight to stay out of the Play-In.
And the Magic do not have to look too far into the team's history to understand what can happen and how it can determine their season.
Treading water
The Orladno Magic are treading water through a part of the schedule many expected the team to take full advantage of.
The Orlando Magic are 8-8 in the team's last 16 games without Franz Wagner, who is expected to return in Thursday's game in Berlin against the Memphis Grizzlies. They have not won or lost consecutive games in the last 13 games.
The inconsistency and the inability to string wins together has been frustrating. But at least Orlando is not losing ground. The team has had only two losing streaks of two or more games this season -- the four-game skid at the start of the season and the two losses to the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets in December.
This is the part of the season that has determined the Magic's fate the last two seasons.
Orlando is 22-18 heading into Thursday's game. That is the same record the team had in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The Magic may not be on the 50-win pace many hoped for, but the team is on the same pace they had during the last two playoff trips.
Different directions
Those two seasons obviously went in different directions. And it was at about the midpoint of the season when the team met its destiny.
In 2024, Orlando continued to tread water through the middle part of the season to a low of 24-23. However, the Magic then won 13 of their next 17 games, building a cushion in their record and climbing the standings. They finished with 47 wins and earned the 5-seed, with only a late three-game losing streak, pushing the Magic out of homecourt advantage.
That was not a clean season as the Magic were learning how to win and building momentum. But once the team had momentum, it lasted for much of the rest of the season.
The 2025 season was a different story.
After going 22-18, the Magic still needed time to recover from all of their injuries. Paolo Banchero was a shell of himself in the first month back after the oblique injury and Franz Wagner was slow returning when he rejoined the lineup two weeks later.
Orlando lost nine of the next 11 games. That losing stretch essentially sealed the Magic's fate as a play-in team. The 1-6 homestand forced the team to rally to earn the 7-seed.
That they were able to still come out with a home game in the Play-In Tournament is a credit to how talented the team was and how much injuries truly affected them throughout the season.
But like in 2024 when the team noted it regretted losses earlier in the season, not realizing how important each game was for postseason seeding, the Magic had a lot of losses they regretted in 2025.
There may be a similar pang of regret about the losses in this stretch. The team has let some games get away.
Looking forward
But this year's Orlando Magic can only look forward. It can only hope that health means it is preparing to make a major push up the standings. And if their 2024 season proved anything, it is that there is still time to make a lot of this season.
But the time is now.
Orlando has played the 10th most difficult schedule in the league so far, according to ESPN's RPI ratings. But the Magic have let some major opportunities go in the last few weeks as they have traded water. Orlando still faces the 11th easiest remaining schedule by opponent win percentage.
After the team returns from Europe, Orlando has only one more road trip longer than two games -- the West Coast trip immediately after the All-Star Break.
The next month will ultimately determine the team's season. The Magic have both looked good enough to break out of this win-one-lose-one pattern and poor enough to succumb to their worst habits. It is hard to get a read on Orlando at the moment.
The Magic have the choice now to make something of their season and break through. They have kept their head above water through all the injuries -- here, the easier schedule has probably helped them -- now it is time for the Magic to make their move up the standings.