Orlando Magic fans still have to do a lot of work to get the rest of the league to take notice of their team.
The Orlando Magic made their playoff debut last year and made a deep impression by taking the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games with a good chance to win that critical game on the road. To do all of that with their top three players all younger than 24, the Magic are a team on the rise.
Most of the NBA experts agree on that front. They all see the Magic as at the beginning of a long playoff run. However, nobody outside of the AdventHealth Training Center may be quite ready to call the team contenders yet.
The Magic are getting tagged with that "promising" label. That might be a shorthand for saying, "We recognize you are a good team, but not among the playoff contenders."
That kind of notion is probably evident with the Magic getting more national TV appearances but still being on the low end of that. This is still a team that has a lot to prove about itself.
It is probably evident too in how the discussion on the Magic centers on what they cannot do or lowering the hype on the team's potential.
The league is still discovering who this Magic team is. And until they actually start watching this team—and there are some takes out there—the Magic will be shrouded in myths and mystery.
Orlando may be moving out the phase of their development where everyone just assumes it is the same old Magic of the past decade. As coach Jamahl Mosley correctly surmised, the Magic are not sneaking up on anybody anymore.
But there is still a startling lack of information about this team. There are already a lot of myths and narratives formed about this team that Orlando is already working to disprove.
Orlando for sure has a lot to prove next year. The baseline goal for the team is to prove they can repeat last season's success if they cannot advance themselves. Barring a complete disaster, Orlando is not going to lose that "promising" tag.
But Banchero and his optimism might not be as far-fetched as everyone might think because this team is closer to seriously competing than everyone anticipates.
To get everyone else to see it, the Magic will have to dispel these key myths quickly.
Myth No. 5: Paolo Banchero is inefficient
One of the big debates during the draft process for Paolo Banchero centered on his efficiency. He was a player who played a lot in the low post at Duke and was not a great shooter. When the Magic were considering who to take, this was one of the central questions.
In the end, Banchero was the player among the three that looked and played most like a star. The kind of player you can give the ball to and let him work and get a good shot, even if it would be a bad shot for most other players.
Banchero proved that decision correct in his first two seasons—averaging 20.0 points per game and 22.6 points per game. He was an All-Star in his second season, gaining the respect of opposing coaches to get that nod. And he stepped up his game in the playoffs, averaging 27.0 points per game against the Cleveland Cavaliers last year.
Yet, the debate remains as Sam Vecenie acknowledged in ranking Paolo Banchero No. 5 in Game Theory's 24 best players younger than 24 years old.
Even late in Banchero's rookie year when it was clear he was the Rookie of the Year (he netted 98 of the 100 first-place votes), arguments kept coming up that Banchero was, in fact, not the Rookie of the Year.
The argument for Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder was about efficiency without much consideration for the role and responsibility he played. The same goes for the lingering talk about Chet Holmgren being the best player in Paolo Banchero's draft class.
That is also what fed the conversation about Scottie Barnes being better than Paolo Banchero in some circles. There is an argument to be made about Banchero's efficiency.
There is no denying it. Banchero has had to work to improve as a shooter. His shooting splits have improved, going from 42.7/29.8/73.8 as a rookie to 45.5/33.9/72.5 as a second-year player—and 45.6/40.0/75.5 in the playoffs. The playoffs showed the kind of promise Banchero has.
And Banchero has to continue reducing his turnovers.
But Banchero really is not comparable to these peers. Banchero averaged 17.6 field goal attempts per game with a star-level 29.7 percent usage rate. Williams averaged 14.0 field goal attempts per game with a 23.7 percent usage rate and Barnes averaged 15.7 field goal attempts per game with a 24.8 percent usage rate.
Quite simply, the Magic have given Banchero far more responsibility than his peers. And he got more efficient last year as he grew into that role even more.
That is to say, yes Banchero needs to continue becoming more efficient. But his efficiency is not the detraction everyone thinks it is. He absorbs the inefficient shots to make everything else on the Magic go.
And Banchero is only going to get better as he finds his efficiency. He clearly can already lift his team to a playoff team and nearly guided them out of the first round despite his supposed inefficiencies.
At the end, winning should count, especially from a primary player.
Myth No. 4: The Magic cannot shoot threes
The Orlando Magic have a spacing problem. At least, that is what everyone says.
The team needs to get more consistent shooting and make shots more. Orlando finished last season ranked 29th in the league with 31.3 attempts per game and 24th with a 35.2 percent field goal percentage from three.
It is hard to be a successful team shooting a low volume and a low percentage from three. Nobody is pretending that 3-point shooting is not an issue for this team.
Then again, it was May 6, the day after the Magic lost in Game 7, that president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman dropped this well-timed statistical nugget: After Jan. 1, the Magic shot 36.3 percent from three, 15th in the league (on 32.1 attempts per game, 27th in the league for that time).
That is . . . something?
Perhaps then the question is whether shooting is even the most important thing the Magic have to solve. Orlando seemed plenty competitive despite good shooters like Gary Harris and Jalen Suggs having their share of struggles through the playoffs.
And Orlando addressed some of the shooting need by signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (he shot 40.6 percent from three last year and has been better than 40 percent in three of the last four years). The Magic are hoping Jalen Suggs maintains his 3-point shooting, Cole Anthony bounces back to a more efficient level and Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner improve their 3-point shooting.
But it should be noted too that even when the Magic shot better from three after Jan. 1, it did not change their offensive rating at all. They had a 112.9 offensive rating (22nd in the league) for the season and a 112.9 offensive rating (21st in the league) after Jan. 1.
Improved shooting on greater volume would help. But an improved percentage did not meaningfully change the Magic's offense, it would seem. Orlando needs something else to improve its offense.
Namely, the Magic have to reduce their turnovers to really make a change to their offense. They were among the worst teams in the league protecting possessions.
Better 3-point shooting is vital. But Orlando is probably better than it shows and it is not the biggest concern offensively.
Myth No. 3: Franz Wagner isn't worth the max
The most controversial decision the Orlando Magic made this offseason was to give Franz Wagner his max extension.
It sparked plenty of debate about whether the Magic should have gone all-in like this on their young forward, particularly since the lasting image of his season was a disastrous Game 7 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Wagner was a solid player last year despite any concerns about his shooting. He averaged 19.7 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game and 3.7 assists per game. Wagner did a bit of everything for the Magic and improved everywhere—except his much-talked-about three-point shooting.
But it is best to consider who else got max contracts and why Wagner is placed among them.
There were a fair amount of max contracts handed out for the 2021 Draft class—Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Scottie Barnes and Franz Wagner all got max deals. Barnes is the only one among those players who got an All-Star bid, and he was only an injury replacement.
It should be noted then that being an All-Star is not some hard-and-fast requirement for getting a max contract. There are a number of factors that go into it.
But Wagner is on that level. Or, at least, he is on that level to the Magic.
There was no reason for the Magic to wait around on him. They either believe he is a max player and the second-best player in their rebuild or they do not. They do not have the cap room next summer to make a splash in free agency the way they could this summer so there was no reason to wait.
Jalen Suggs still has something to prove, but even he is expected to get his new deal before the Oct. 21 deadline. In any case, the Magic will bring him back one way or the other (on less than the max).
What the Magic said in giving Wagner a max is that they believe he is their second-best player and someone they believe will become an All-Star.
Considering he is getting his max—25 percent of the salary cap—on the low end of the cap increases and that the salary cap is expected to increase by 10 percent each year because of the new TV deal, outpacing the maximum eight percent raises in Wagner's contract, this is not a bad deal for the Magic at all.
To a certain degree, you either believe in Wagner or you do not. The Magic believe in him. And they had no other options to find a "max level" player considering their Paul George interest was probably not completely serious.
This deal enables them to keep home-growing their roster and building on this success.
Myth No. 2: The Magic don't have rim protection
The Orlando Magic are recognized as one of the best defensive teams in the league. They were solid defensively to end the season in the 2023 season. That turned into a stellar effort in the 2024 season.
Orlando finished third in the league with a 110.8 defensive rating last year. Their defense held up in the playoffs too. Orlando's defense is its backbone and cultivating and keeping that defense is critical to the team maintaining its place in the Eastern Conference.
Still, there is a perception at least that the Magic do not have a defense that can hold up in the long run.
The entire all-defensive first team were centers and rim-protecting centers. That is decidedly not what Wendell Carter is. And with four of the Magic's five starters under some form of a long-term deal. Carter is the lone holdout in the lineup. And his place on the team is not settled, mostly because of his injury history.
But fans might argue the Magic need an upgrade over Carter because of his lack of shot-blocking and rim protection. He is not a traditional above-the-rim center who will finish with thunderous dunks or come flying out of nowhere to block shots.
Carter though is a good shot blocker and is a good rim protector, even if he is not elite. This might be considered the weak spot in an otherwise strong defensive unit.
Last year though, the Magic ranked 13th in the league with 5.2 blocks per game and 12th in the league giving up 64.1 percent shooting at the rim, according to data from Second Spectrum. Orlando gave up the ninth-fewest field goal attempts per game inside of five feet at 27.9 per game and gave up 63.5 percent shooting within five feet (12th in the league).
Carter, for his part, gave up only 58.4 percent shooting at the rim according to data from Second Spectrum. That ranked third behind only Jonathan Isaac and Goga Bitadze among regular rotation players.
To be sure, the Magic's rim protection and interior defense is something that could improve. It is the weak spot in the Magic's defense. But they do a good job limiting that defense. Getting ot the interior has proven to be extremely difficult for those facing the Magic.
This may be something the Magic continue to look to improve as they move into the next phase of their development. But Orlando has proven itself to be a solid defensive team even with some weaker rim protection.
But the Magic are not a team anybody is driving on willy nilly. This is still an above-average space for the Magic. This weak spot in the defense is not so weak.
Myth No. 1: The Magic can't win big games
The Orlando Magic are still a team outside of the national spotlight. They are a team that has worked on the periphery of the league.
Many were surprised to see them sitting in fifth in the Eastern Conference at the end of the season and pushing a more established team in the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in the first round.
There is still some shock about the Magic's ambitions this year of getting homecourt advantage in the playoffs and competing for the top of the East.
The Magic still have a lot of work to do to change perceptions. They have a lot of work to make themselves part of the national conversation and a serious threat to win the Eastern Conference.
And a lot of that comes down to winning marquee games.
The Magic got one shot at that during the regular season last year in their lone nationally televised game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They showed themselves off well, but the Thunder were the better team that night and throughout the season. Orlando receded to the background.
Somehow that was the only impression the Magic got to make on a national stage until the playoffs.
The numbers do not support the Magic either.
Orlando went 19-28 last year against teams with records better than .500. Only the Chicago Bulls had fewer wins against such teams among all postseason teams last year.
Orlando feasted on bad teams, but could still use some work winning against good teams more consistently.
Still, the Magic had some huge wins last year.
They swept the defending champion Denver Nuggets, including Paolo Banchero's triple-double for an undermanned Orlando Magic team on the road. They defeated the Boston Celtics during a must-win In-Season Tournament home game on Black Friday (on NBATV). They came from behind to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road.
And, of course, the Orlando Magic gutted out a Game 6 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers to force a Game 7 in the biggest win of the season.
The Magic should enter every game this season believing they can win. They are good enough to beat any team on their schedule. They proved that last year with some of these big wins.
The question is about consistency and whether the team can win these kinds of games regularly. It is why those two difficult stretches in December and January are so huge. It is why winning those five nationally televised games will go a long way to proving the Magic are ready to play on a bigger stage.
But Orlando can and has won these games. This year, the team will have to do it more often to take the next step up. Nobody should be counting out the Magic however.