No matter where the Orlando Magic finish at the end of the season, this year will be viewed as a disappointment. Perhaps as one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.
The Magic entered the year with bold talk of competing for a championship or being on that path. The team saw the next steps as gaining homecourt advantage and advancing out of the first round.
Injuries have derailed the team's hopes this season completely, knocking Orlando out of the contending tier. But to be in the Play-In ringer and not even be guaranteed a spot in the 7/8 game is a massive failure, all things considered.
If the Magic had avoided their six-game losing streak, things might be different, and the team might be comfortably in sixth. But that is the nature of the league -- it is a make-or-miss league. And that is not what happened.
A season like this necessitates consideration for change.
But will it drag the Magic into the biggest storm of this offseason? Are they in play for Giannis Antetokounmpo?
Kirk Goldsberry of The Ringer is willing to say publicly that he believes the Magic are sniffing around.
"I heard there was a mystery team," Goldsberry said on The Bill Simmons Podcast. "I called around as part of this exercise to see who were potentially desperate places for Giannis to land. Somebody who knows stuff told me that Orlando has actually been very active in seeking out Giannis Antetokounmpo's services.
"Desperation sort of sets in when? After the end of the first round of the playoffs. There are 16 teams who think they are in it, and then two weeks later, eight of them are out. That's where I think the Houstons, Orlandos are going to emerge. That's the group I'm looking at. Somebody will talk themselves into it. I can definitely see it being somebody like Orlando who has a player that could be appealing to send back."
That is a pretty nebulous thing to connect the Magic to. But the larger point is that there is an expectation that the Magic will be active to ensure that this kind of season never happens again. Not while the team is above the tax or aprons.
Fans have already deemed that a coaching change is a necessity -- that is the easiest core piece to swap. There will be long discussions about trading some key players -- Jalen Suggs and Wendell Carter seem to be on the chopping block.
Almost everything should be on the table.
One thing that should not is the team's core group. But that is the one thing that the trade machine and critics have been circling. And that is the only way the Magic would get into the Giannis mix.
The answer feels obvious, but the Magic's big question this offseason might very well be how much they believe in their core.
Paolo's referendum
Fair or not, much of this season has become a referendum on Paolo Banchero.
His up-and-down season, along with the Orlando Magic's frustrations, have seemingly made him good fodder. Or at least the player the overreactionary crowd wants to shop.
And that has seemingly put the Magic right in the middle of the biggest drama for the offseason.
This podcast is not the first time the Magic have been connected to Giannis Antetokounmpo. Michael Pina of The Ringer pitched the Magic as a trade location back at the trade deadline. And Simmons has repeatedly suggested a Paolo-for-Giannis trade (even pitching it openly in Thursday's podcast).
But Banchero has turned his season around. He has shown exactly why he was the top pick and the kind of player the Magic invested a max contract in.
For the season, Banchero is averaging 22.8 points per game, fewer than his 25.9 points per game last year but more than his 2024 All-Star season. He is averaging a career-high 8.4 rebounds per game and a more than respectable. 5.1 assists per game.
The bigger thing for him is that, despite all the criticism, he is shooting a career-best 46.2 percent overall and a career-best 57.1 percent true shooting percentage.
Since the All-Star break, he is averaging 26.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. He has 47.8/34.1/82.1 shooting splits and a 59.3 percent true shooting percentage. He is picking up steam as the Playoffs get closer. And he has always been a playoff performer.
The thoughts that Banchero was somehow slowing down or someone the Magic should give up on is proving incorrect, especially considering all the injuries the Magic have faced.
Orlando should not consider trading him at all at 23 years old and so early in his career. And that would completely close the door on Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The ticking clock
There is that ticking clock though. And that is why there is seemingly some urgency for the offseason that is necessitating some change.
The Orlando Magic ducked the tax by trading Tyus Jones simply to avoid starting their repeater clock. Their potential move to waive Jonathan Isaac this offseason will take the team slightly beneath the first apron. They will likely go over it again to re-sign Anthony Black to an extension that begins in the 2028 season.
The Magic do not have the time to wait for players to sit and develop. They need to be proactive to improve the roster and fill in the holes that led to the team's struggles this season. Even if that means only improving depth to injury-proof the roster.
Orlando is essentially locked into this roster too because the team does not control its own draft picks until 2031. It would be hard to strip down and rebuild completely until the Magic control their own draft picks again.
That is the other reason why pushing in for Antetokounmpo would be a bigger risk.
The majority of the conversation on The Bill Simmons Podcast focused on how rare it is that a player older than 30 or entering his 14th season maintains a strong level of play. Antetokounmpo would be a rarity if he stayed at an MVP level.
And he is already dealing with plenty of calf, leg and ankle issues. The kind that will not go away as he ages, especially considering his play style.
But it all goes back to that ticking clock. One way or another, it comes for everyone as Jeff Weltman has said repeatedly. And it has come for the Magic.
That is why they are drawn into this maelstrom. That is why this already feels like a super consequential offseason for the Magic.