The air feels different now.
The NBA will tip off its 2026-27 season on Tuesday afternoon with a marquee triple-header, beginning in Detroit with the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons. The games will count, and this surely crazy journey will begin.
The mood at the AdventHealth Training Center on Sunday, as the Orlando Magic turned from the preseason to the regular season, was focused on the injuries hitting the team.
Franz Wagner only did light work Sunday, but was a full participant in practice Tuesday and said he expects to play. Anthony Black and Jonathan Isaac continue to ramp up toward playing, but are still uncertain for the season opener. Noah Penda was in good spirits but disappointed he would miss the start of the season.
Those might be the only hurdles to overcome in the early part of the season. Otherwise, it is not quite business as usual. Then again, it might just be that way.
As Jalen Suggs put it when asked how the vibes are different heading into the regular season now, "Nothing has changed."
That is the sort of vibe Sean Sweeney is trying to portray too, even as the energy picks up with the games set to start counting. The task is still the task -- to keep growing and building with a new system.
"There is probably a little bit of a transition that you are thinking about in terms of what is coming," Sweeney said after practice Sunday. "But at the end of the day, it still is what we're trying to do each day that matters. Today was review, make sure we got things down, keep trying to make things that we believe lead to winning a habit and continue to bring those habits to whatever our opponent brings that night."
There is still a learning process going on for the Magic as they build their habits and processes. That has been the biggest task facing the team in training camp. Everyone has been mostly pleased with the progress through the first month together.
The challenge now comes seeing that tested in regular season games and seeing how the team comes together.
The Magic are not done building as they look ahead to their opener.
Building habits
The Orlando Magic have had to get a lot done in their preseason.
The team has talked a lot about Sean Sweeney's ability to communicate and express his ideas clearly. Many players came back to Orlando early to get a jump start on learning the team's new offensive and defensive schemes.
Many of the players only knew Jamahl Mosley as their coach. And so they were learning a new process and new habits completely from scratch.
Most of what Sweeney has had to do is build those habits.
"I think we've done really well," Franz Wagner said after practice Tuesday. "Our effort to try to execute those new things, I think that has been really good. Everyone has listened to the staff and executed even when things don't work the first time. I think we are seeing the habits translating, and that gives everybody a little more juice to do it again."
Sweeney joked last week that the team's habits were still fourth nature. He granted they might be at third nature right now. Still progress for this team.
The preseason did give the Magic a chance to test how they look in game competition. They were encouraged by those results.
Orlando felt like it did not reach its potential in the last two seasons. There is plenty of motivation to improve. Right now, the Magic are trying to make sure they know what they are doing.
"Different voice, so you have to do some adapting," Anthony Black said after practice on Tuesday. "Everybody has been here the whole summer. By now, if you don't know, you're not paying attention."
The Magic are eager for that first test and what happens.
When they are tested
One of the better things to happen during Friday's preseason finale against the Miami Heat was to see the Heat come out and blitz the Magic, putting them on their back foot.
If you want to test a team's habits, put them under some stress. See if the team stick to their process.
That is still the great unknown for this Magic team. It is one thing to believe and execute in training camp, especially when coaches can stop and correct things. It is another to have to figure out how to do it on the court.
Orlando sticking with their process and erasing that double-digit lead to build one of their own in a blowout win was a positive sign of how much things have taken hold.
"I really liked the fact that we kind of got out to a slow start," Jalen Suggs said after practice Sunday. "I think it gave us the opportunity to show some resiliency, respond to adversity, come out of the first quarter timeout facing a deficit and then have to respond. I thought that was good practice. Everybody got good minutes, good reps. I thought our running habits were really well. And after a slow start offensively, just shooting the ball, I thought everybody responded well and stayed with it, stayed with our principles of moving the ball and spacing. I think the results showed as a result of that."
The Magic's positive results this preseason have led to some confidence, too. Going 3-1 in the preseason and seeing the system work has the team looking ahead with some optimism and belief. It has the team confident that those foundations are strong.
Clearly, the Magic still have things to learn. They should not be playing at their best in October. Teams will adjust and adapt to what the Magic are doing too.
As the team turns toward the regular season, that process will continue. What the team hopes is that its lessons have become more habitual. They hope that they are rounding into form.
"I think the biggest thing is making sure we know what we're trying to get done each day, being really purposeful in the work so we can make sure we do a good job of improving, because as we know, what we go into the season as is not where we want to finish," Sean Sweeney said after practice Tuesday. "We want to keep building each day. That's the main thing: Trying to be clear and concise and purposeful with what we do."
There is still clearly work to do. Every team would likely say that. Orlando is still growing. And even Wednesday's opener will present some clear challenges.
The team is eager to get the season started and see where they stand and continue that process.
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