Throughout the entire offseason, the Orlando Magic's rallying cry was that when they were healthy, they were one of the best teams in the league. Their starting lineup was one of the best in the league. They just needed to see it for more than the minuscule 182 minutes they played together last year.
That was all well and good. No team has all of its players for all 82 games. Every team faces injuries throughout the season. The hope would be that it would not fall to one of their big-name players like it did the last two seasons. That could get them to the Playoffs and give them a chance.
It only took two games to throw that out the window.
The Magic announced that Paolo Banchero suffered a low-grade right high ankle sprain. His return will be dependent on how he responds to treatment. Shams Charania of ESPN reports that the typical prognosis is a return in 4-6 weeks. That would peg Banchero's return sometime between Thanksgiving and early December.
It leaves the Magic without their leading scorer for the next month in a critical time when the team is trying to come together and learn a new coach's system. And a time when the Magic still appear to be struggling to put the pieces together.
This is the Magic's worst nightmare.
They planned their season as if they would have a fully healthy roster. That was the bet they made. And that has gone up in smoke.
Now Orlando is facing a struggling team learning a new system and putting the pieces togehter without the one player who had seemingly taken to this style whole-heartedly and found success.
This is the Magic's worst nightmare to start the season.
A difficult start
The Orlando Magic's 0-2 start, with both games at home even against quality teams like the Atlanta Hawks and Minnesota Timberwolves, did not give much confidence in this team.
Paolo Banchero's play -- a 35-point, 10-assist showing against the Hawks and 14 points, six rebounds and five assists in 26.4 minutes against the Wolves on Friday -- was one of the bright spots in a disappointing start to the season.
There has not been much to hold onto from the first two games.
The Magic have struggled defensively, the supposed backbone of this team's identity. They have a new-look offense that showed promise throughout the preseason, but it dropped the ball late in the opener against Atlanta and disappeared completely against Minnesota.
Franz Wagner will get the bulk of the attention when Paolo Banchero missed time during the last two seasons will have a lot more on his shoulders now.
Wagner held the boat steady in both 2025 and 2026 with Banchero out. He averaged 26.1 points per game and 6.3 assists per game in 20 games after Banchero tore his oblique in the 2025 season. When Banchero strained his groin early last season, Wagner averaged 23.6 points per game for the Magic in 10 games.
Wagner has had his moments to start the season, even if they are bit underwhelming. He had 22 points six rebounds and five assists in the opener, shooting only 9-for-20 as he dealt with foul trouble. He had 18 points, six rebounds and five assists in Friday's loss.
Wagner has shown he can step up.
But the team has looked disjointed. Usually a reliable plus-minus demon, the Magic are -19, including -18 on Friday, with Wagner on the floor. They will need Wagner to step up once again to lead the team.
The issue for the Magic is that everyone now has to slide over a role. They need Wagner to step up and be the team's star. And they will need a struggling bench to fill in, with either Tristan da Silva or Jamal Cain moving into the starting lineup with Noah Penda out.
Anthony Black has been upgraded to QUESTIONABLE after missing all of training camp, preseason and the first two games with a right ankle sprain.
That will bring some relief. But the Magic have a lot to figure out without a key player.
The road ahead
Orlando Magic fans surely had PTSD from hearing that Paolo Banchero would be out with a high ankle sprain after Franz Wagner missed all but 34 games dealing with a high ankle sprain last year. It appears this is not as serious as that injury was. But still, it was a slow recovery for Wagner.
Wagner missed five weeks before returning in the Berlin game. That was the first of his two false starts returning from that injury.
Five weeks would bring Banchero back on Nov. 28 at Washington. He would miss at least 15 games in that instance. It is likely Banchero would miss more time, with the hope that he can be fully healed and not repeat the mistakes from last season.
The road ahead in that stretch includes this difficult three-game road trip to New York and Toronto, a West Coast trip that begins next week (a manageable one with all four teams struggling to start the season), and almost the entire NBA Cup group play schedule.
But this is what everyone knew the season would come down to.
Every team is going to miss their star players for some stretch. Few players play an entire 82 games. And the difference in seeding would be how the team plays in that stretch.
Orlando is in pure survival mode already.
There was no panic after losing the first two games this season. There is still time to get things right. But doing that without Banchero will be a major challenge.
It already feels like the Magic are in a hole with their 0-2 start at home. Now they have to find a way to dig themselves out.
The Magic made their bet that health would allow them to see this team's full potential. It did not take long for that bet to bust.
Now the season has become about survival and confidence is low.
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