Orlando Magic Daily
Fansided

10 Opponents the Orlando Magic should get a national TV game against

With the Olympics coming to a close, the excitement for the 2025 NBA season is beginning to build. The league should release its schedule within the next two weeks. Orlando Magic fans are eager to see if the league finally features them on national TV.

By Philip Rossman-Reich

The Orlando Magic should get more national attention this year and more national TV appearances than the one they got last year.
The Orlando Magic should get more national attention this year and more national TV appearances than the one they got last year. / Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 6
Next

Lottery Teams

4. San Antonio Spurs

Orlando Magic fans' obsession with the national TV thing is legitimate. They have a reasonable gripe for the lack of attention the team has gotten. Especially considering they had the No. 1 pick and runaway Rookie of the Year.

There is a lot of the league that still has not seen much of the Magic because they have been so far out of the spotlight.

It is not like the Magic are asking for a ton of national TV games. They have to earn them. And in many ways, Magic fans feel like they have.

The comparison of the national TV attention the Orlando Magic got after getting the number one pick in 2023 to the attention the San Antonio Spurs got in 2024 really highlights how ignored Magic fans feel.

Victor Wembanyama was an attraction. Everyone should understand why the NBA tried to highlight him.

But to go from one national TV appearance in Paolo Banchero's rookie year (that was taken away because of an injury to the No. 2 pick) to more than 20 in Wembanyama's rookie year and on a Spurs team that had a far worse record than the Magic did during Banchero's rookie year.

There are some bitter feelings directed at the NBA for this slight, even if everyone can admit the Spurs should have still gotten more national attention for Wembanyama's rookie year than whatever the Magic should have gotten for Banchero's rookie year.

It still makes sense for the Magic and Spurs to be two teams matched up on national TV. The Spurs are trying to become what the Magic are right now with their young player. And there should be the underlying storyline of Franz and Moritz Wagner leading Germany against Victor Wembanyama and France to play up from the Olympics into the regular season.

3. Houston Rockets

Similar to the San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets are trying to get where the Orlando Magic currently are. They were the last team eliminated from postseason contention last year, just as the Magic were the last team eliminated during the 2023 season.

The Rockets with Jabari Smith Jr.—the guy the Magic were supposed to pick in the 2022 NBA Draft—and Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun are starting to put their young talent together. They added good veterans and carved an identity on the defensive end. They are a team that is coming together quickly.

A Magic-Rockets matchup would be a fun feature of two of the best young teams in the league.

Home/Magic News