Why the Magic’s lack of national media coverage is a double-edged sword

The Orlando Magic finished as a top-5 team in the Eastern Conference last year.

A large part of that is because they have a historically great player in Paolo Banchero, who has put belief in an organization thirsty for its third Finals appearance. That belief seems to only reside in Orlando, though. The Magic haven't received the national media coverage that many up-and-coming teams have. Teams like the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs have received more national coverage than Orlando, and the lack of coverage has sparked debates.

The main question revolves around why national media outlets wouldn't cover a historically great player like Paolo Banchero, who has done similar things to what LeBron James did in his first couple of seasons as a pro. He was, for example, only the second teenager in league history to record a game with at least 30 points and 15 rebounds, joining LeBron James.

The lack of coverage can go both ways, having negative as well as positive effects on the team.

Not being on national TV a lot is both a good and a bad thing for the Magic going into Banchero's third season

It Is a good thing because the lack of national media coverage allows the Magic’s players to play with house money, without national expectations of what they should be able to do. For example, if the national media had covered the Magic extensively last season, the attention could have made some of the players crumble under that type of media scrutiny.

The Magic shattered any media outlet's preseason prediction of what they could be last year by winning 47 games. They may have had the Magic making the Play-In Tournament, but never thought they would end up as a top-five team in the Eastern Conference. That lack of national media coverage helped players, like Franz Wagner and several role players, to settle into their roles without any major scrutiny.

So, it could be a good thing because the Magic soared to the top of the Eastern Conference without having to deal with the extra time spent conducting interviews with national media correspondents. The team experienced more national media coverage in their seven-game series against the Cleveland Cavaliers than they did the entire season, even though it was first deemed the least important of the playoff series in the East.

But the higher the Magic climb in the standings in 2025, the more national outlets will start sending correspondents out to Central Florida. They would have no choice but to speak highly of the Magic if they were to lock up one of the top four spots in the East, because these are the teams that will have homecourt in the first round. Orlando has improved drastically and gained attention through their local media outlets, although the Magic are not the sexy team they want to discuss nationally.

On the flip side, this could be a bad thing for fans outside of Orlando.

If the local media outlets in Orlando are the only journalists covering this team and its historically great player, it doesn't highlight how good Banchero actually is. This is the power of the media. The lack of national coverage can shape the minds of the viewers outside of Orlando. It might make non-Magic fans believe that Banchero and his team just aren’t that good because national media outlets aren't hyping them up like they are doing with some of the other young up-and-coming teams.

Which would be a shame considering all that Banchero has already accomplished at his young age. The average NBA fan does not know of all of the great things Banchero has accomplished because of this lack of national media coverage. Banchero deserves to be highlighted just as much as any other generational talent that is currently being discussed in today’s NBA.

Most fans in Orlando don't realize how much work the third-year star has put in because most national media outlets spend their time talking about players like the Oklahoma City Thunder's Chet Holmgren or the San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama. The national outlets spend so much time talking about these guys, so these are the players that most fans are more familiar with.

Maybe the national media will start paying more attention if the Magic can somehow punch their ticket as a top-four team in the Eastern Conference.