The Magic are in a great position, despite what the standings currently look like. Nobody is talking about the emergence of Franz Wagner or the fact that the team is getting healthy at the right time.
All the pundits want to talk about are the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the New York Knicks. They are the favorites in the Eastern Conference. So, a team like the seventh-seeded Orlando Magic are flying under the radar despite having one of the better big threes when healthy.
That's right, Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Jalen Suggs are who the franchise decided to bet the house on, and rightfully so. These three won't have to play under the pressure that they might have had to if they were sitting at the top of the conference. They are playing with house money.
The Magic are in the right position to finish the season strong
On an ESPN SportsCenter segment, the seventh-seeded Orlando Magic were selected by ESPN’s Marc Spears to be a team that will rebound and make a late push.
When Spears said rebound, he was not talking about grabbing boards and kicking it back out to the point guard off of an offensive rebound. He's not talking about Paolo Banchero or anyone on the roster snatching the ball off the glass once the opposing team misses, either.
Spears believes that the Magic have a shot to rebound and be a team to reckon with when all of their stars are back. Right now, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are back from the oblique injuries they suffered this season, but the team is still missing Jalen Suggs, who is a huge part of what the Magic do on both sides of the ball. Spears believes that they can find some magic once the three stars share the court consistently.
And that's not a bad take. The Magic looked like a legit title contender earlier in the year when the three stars were healthy and gaining chemistry. You were able to see a little of their potential and what they were capable of doing in the first five games of the season. They went 4-1 during that span, and their only loss was to the Memphis Grizzlies, who currently have the third-best record in the Western Conference. Spears might just be up to something here.
This year, the players on the Magic‘s roster have developed and turned into a semi-big three. Paolo Banchero is averaging 23.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, and five assists per game. Franz Wagner is averaging 25.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game. And Jalen Suggs is averaging 16.2 points, four rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. This is not a bad big three in Central Florida.
With only 26 games remaining, the Magic have one of the easier schedules down the stretch and could easily go on a 20-6 run to end the year. That would put their record at 47-35, the exact record they finished with last year. The difference between this year and last year is that Franz Wagner has come into his own, and he's developed so much that last year’s six-point performance in Game Seven against the Cleveland Cavaliers feels like it didn't even happen.
This could be the start of a nice run for Orlando. But keep in mind that the bench plays a huge role in the success of this team, and although Banchero, Wagner, and Suggs would be present, the absence of Mo Wagner cannot be ignored. That's where the Magic's ceiling ends. Second-year point guard Anthony Black has stepped up and played a critical role for the team this year, but it doesn't replace what the older Wagner brother brings to the table on both sides of the ball.
Spears didn't mention the fact that Wagner's injury could determine how high the ceiling really is for the team but did mention that the Magic were a team that was getting healthy at the right time.