Orlando Magic at San Antonio Spurs (Oct. 9, 2024): 3 Things To Watch, Odds and Prediction

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Season Series: Feb. 8 in Orlando; March 17 in San Antonio
2024 Season Series: Magic 108, Spurs 98 in San Antonio on Jan. 31; Magic 127, Spurs 111 in Orlando on Feb. 8

OMD Prediction

Our 2024 Record: 57-32/43-46 ATS

The Orlando Magic are not going to overreact to one preseason performance. All of us outside the team might put a lot of emphasis on these games—it is our only chance to see them before the season begins so we do not always have the context of practices and the rest of training camp. But the team knows it is another day to stack on top of all the others.

The Magic are not alarmed by their uneven play on Monday afternoon. They know there is a lot to correct. And even with Wendell Carter likely out for Wednesday's game after spraining his left ankle, the Magic can still get its work in.

At the very least, the team showed with its fight among its reserve players that its culture of competitiveness runs very deep.

At this stage, it is less about the opponent and more about the Magic. They need to reduce turnovers just to give their offense a chance to find its rhythm. On that point, playing against a San Antonio Spurs team that is weaker defensively than the New Orleans Pelicans will help.

The Spurs are still figuring themselves out beyond Victor Wembanyama's presence (he sat out the Spurs' preseason opener to rest but is expected to play Wednesday). And they have their own slate of injuries to be worried about.

3 Things To Watch

3. The core offensive identity

A lot is going to be made about the Orlando Magic and their relationship with the 3-point shot. Last year, Orlando finished 29th in the league in 3-point attempts. While this should not be a volume 3-point shooting team, they have to take more.

There is at least some disappointment they could not get Kentavious Caldwell-Pope more shots—he took and missed only two 3-pointers. The Magic were struggling to generate 3-point looks, ending the game with 36 thanks to a flurry at the end of the game. And the team made only nine of those 36 attempts (25.0 percent).

The turnovers and playmaking are in the spotlight for the Magic, as they should be. Orlando at the very least wants to reduce turnovers to build some offensive rhythm.

But do not get things twisted, the Magic's core offensive identity is their pressure on the rim. And the team stayed afloat offensively on Monday by embracing this identity. And it is one reason to continue waiting on progression before we have a full grasp of the team's offense.

Orlando took advantage of the still-learning defense to take 35 free throws and posted a free throw rate better than 40 percent. The Magic also scored 36 points in the paint on 18-for-32 shooting.

That is probably the number that got hurt most by the turnovers. The Magic have to be a team that lives in the paint. That is the ticket to unlocking the rest of the offense.

2. Experiments at center?

To some extent, necessity is the mother of invention. A preseason injury to Tony Battie forced the Orlando Magic to try Rashard Lewis at power forward and the rest is history.

The Magic will not do anything that drastic in the wake of Wendell Carter's sprained left ankle. He is listed as day-to-day and Carter is hopeful to return before the end of the preseason. His injury does not seem serious.

The assumption is Goga Bitadze will slide into the starting lineup. And Bitadze is more than capable of filling in. But the preseason should be a time to experiment and try out some different lineups. There are few consequences to experimenting at this stage of the season.

And the Spurs are a good team to experiment with considering what a unique player Victor Wembanyama is.

Victor Wembanyama has already shown respect to Jonathan Isaac as a defender. This could be a chance to try out a lineup that matches the two more directly. He along with Chris Paul are set to make his preseason debut Wednesday.

The Magic are more worried about their own work more than matching up with their opponent. But the team should be exploring its entire roster and view this absence as an opportunity to do so.

1. Franz Wagner's turn?

Monday's preseason opener against the New Orleans Pelicans saw Paolo Banchero quietly do his work at his own pace. He looked like a veteran who understood what these games are about and did his thing to score 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting in about 22 minutes.

The Magic would love to see Franz Wagner do much of the same and put those pieces together.

Doing that against a team where he averaged 27.0 points per game, 7.5 rebounds per game and 6.0 assists per game last year seems like a great opportunity for him to take the forefront. That is not to mention some lingering feelings he might have over seeing Victor Wembanyama after the Olympics defeat.

Wagner was not bad in the loss to the Pelicans on Monday. He was searching for his touch as he tried to get downhill to the basket, finishing with eight points on 2-for-8 shooting and missing his two 3-point looks. Wagner was moving well and getting to his spots. He just lacked some touch to put the ball in.

That is what preseason is for. And hopefully Wagner is starting to put those pieces together and can net some results. If for anything, then just to calm fans down a bit.