With the NBA Cup in the rearview mirror and the calendar flipping to the new year, the NBA now turns its marketing machine and attention to its next big event.
NBA All-Star Weekend arrives in San Francisco on Feb. 14. That is the official marker for the sprint to the end of the season.
Until then, everyone has already turned to the meat of the season—with the trade deadline in the middle a little more than four weeks away—and teams have started to sort themselves into their contending tiers.
All eyes are on the race to the break and what comes beyond it.
The turn of the calendar brought with it the first returns for All-Star voting after a few weeks of voting and some surprise results.
Paolo Banchero, despite playing only five games this season, finds himself fourth in the Eastern Conference's voting among forwards. Granted he is 500,000 votes behind Karl-Anthony Towns, so his bid to start will likely not come true. And even though the Magic sit in fourth in the Eastern Conference, it might take a killer return to make an impression on coached before they vote in three weeks.
Franz Wagner too made some waves finishing seventh in the first return of voting.
Fan voting is not completely about who is playing well. It is a popularity contest. Banchero and Wagner were long shots to start even if they were fully healthy. And that healthy margin between Towns in third and Banchero in fourth speaks to how certain it is who will start in San Francisco. That Banchero is fourth at all speaks to his potential popularity and how divorced fan voting can be from results.
Banchero has played only five games this season—even though his return is imminent—and Wagner is not likely to be back in enough time to make another impression before the league names its final teams.
In other words, it still feels like a major long shot for the Magic to get a representative in the All-Star Break. Even if the team is sitting in one of the top spots in the Eastern Conference.
Team success = All-Star?
Typically though, the teams at the top of the standings are the ones who get the benefit of the doubt for All-Star bids. The starters may be a popularity contest, but typically coaches pick the reserves to award the teams that are winning.
That makes an interesting test case for the Magic. They are fourth in the Eastern Conference and have been among the teams in the league all season. But their two best players have dealt with long-term injuries.
That is a hard sell. Coaches will certainly take into account how much time Banchero is missing and Wagner's likely absence when they vote after the starters are named at the end of the month.
That creates an exceptionally rare scenario.
The Magic still sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference. If they do not get an All-Star they would become the first top-four seed in either conference without an All-Star since 2013 when Brook Lopez only became an All-Star as an injury replacement for the fourth-place Brooklyn Nets.
The last time there were no All-Stars at all from a top-four seed in either conference was 2007 when the first-place New Orleans Hornets did not have an All-Star representative.
The Magic could indeed be in some rare company when All-Star Weekend begins in February—they could be at the top of the standings but without a representative for All-Star Weekend.
That might be something they would favor, even if it means they do not have the status that comes with it. The Magic have had so many injuries through the first half of the season they would probably prefer to give their players the weekend off even if they are back on the court.
In a typical season, the Magic would certainly get one player on the team and would be in the running for two with the way Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner were playing.
Banchero played in only five games but was averaging 29.0 points per game, 8.8 rebounds per game and 5.6 assists per game. That included a 50-point effort against the Indiana Pacers.
Banchero could have nearly a month to make his case to make the All-Star team before the reserves are announced Jan. 30. But that is not much time.
Banchero is nearing his return as he enters return to competition conditioning. But even if he comes back Sunday—he has already been ruled out for Friday's game—that would only give him 12 additional games. And that is assuming Banchero plays back-to-backs.
Wagner would have likely been the Magic's All-Star representative if he had stayed healthy. He is averaging 24.4 points per game and 5.7 assists per game. He elevated his game as the main scorer for the Magic in Banchero's absence. He was taking mid-range shots and taking over games in a way the Magic had not seen before.
That mentality switch kept the Magic in the playoff and the homecourt advantage chase. Wagner averaged 26.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game in 20 games after Banchero's injury. He shot 45.7 percent from the floor despite the increased usage.
Wagner likely will not be back before the All-Star Break even though he is doing some light movement already and the severity of his injury does not appear to be as bad as Banchero's. There just is not enough time for either player to make a big impression.
Orlando at least is exiting this season believing the team has two true All-Stars even if neither gets the nod this year to head to San Francisco.
One last shot at the All-Star Game
Still, there is always a chance that if either player returns in time, they could get the nod as an injury replacement. Commissioner Adam Silver makes that call should any player be injured and unable to play if they are selected.
The path for the Orlando Magic to reach the All-Star Game is indeed a difficult one because of the injuries. The coaches are not likely to check off the box and reward the Magic for their winning ways because their star players' cases are so incomplete.
There is of course one other way for the Magic to get a player in the All-Star Game.
Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva are likely heading to the NBA's Rising Stars Game. If their team wins that competition, they will be the fourth team in the All-Star Game's new tournament format.
That is at least a path to the All-Star Game if not for an outright All-Star.
It is a weird season for the Magic in that respect. They have two players playing like All-Stars. They have a record that would almost guarantee them an All-Star representative and perhaps even two. But because of the injuries, the Magic will likely be sitting out Sunday's game in San Francisco.
Still, to see Banchero and Wagner net the votes they have gotten in fan voting suggest the Magic are getting some notice and attention. And that future All-Star berths for both forwards are in the future.