Defensive Player of the Year: Jalen Suggs
Betting Favorite: Victor Wembanyama (-190)
Magic Candidates: Jalen Suggs (+7500), Jonathan Isaac (+10,000)
The Orlando Magic have made it abundantly clear their identity starts on the defensive end. The team finished third in defensive rating and that was their ticket to break through into the playoffs.
They spent their offseason doubling down on their defense.
They signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as a perfect 3-and-D pairing to add to their defense. Caldwell-Pope was really pushing to be on the All-Defensive team last year too (he got 12 votes for the second team to his chagrin).
He has said repeatedly he believes the Magic now have one of the best defensive backcourts in the league. The Magic's defense could be even more terrifying.
And that is because they have two additional all-defensive team candidates and the new guy they signed.
Jalen Suggs made the All-Defensive Second Team last year as one of the most hounding perimeter defenders in the league. It was not something always captured in stats. But Suggs set the tone for the team defensively in almost every fashion.
Everyone on the roster has seemingly described Suggs as "the head of the snake" of the team's elite defense at one point or another. His willingness to pressure the ball and get physical really permeates to everyone on the roster.
The question of course is whether a guard can win the award anymore (acknowledging Marcus Smart won it two years ago). Four of the five members of the first team last year were rim-protecting bigs. Indeed, the top seven betting favorites are all rim-protecting bigs, led by the extreme favorite in second-year center Victor Wembanyama.
That is why for winning Defensive Player of the Year, the better bet might be Jonathan Isaac.
Isaac is often touted as the best per-minute defender in the league. He did not qualify to make the All-Defensive team last year but there is every indication that he would have had a real shot at making the second team at least if he were.
The Magic had a 102.1 defensive rating with Isaac on the floor—their overall average was 110.8. He averaged 1.9 stocks per game in 15.8 minutes per game and opponents shot just 52.7 percent at the rim against him, according to Second Spectrum. Only one other non-center who played at least 15 minutes per game and appeared in 50 games was better than him in that mark (the Denver Nuggets' Peyton Watson).
Everyone who watches Isaac understands the defensive impact he can have. And the Magic are hoping they can further unleash him this year with some of his injury past behind him.
Orlando may not win the Defensive Player of the Year because they lack the headline-making rim protector who usually wins it. But the Magic should again be a top defensive team and a team that will have at least three players in the hunt to make the All-Defensive team again.