When the Orlando Magic's season ended back in May, they looked ahead to a lot of excitement and a bright future.
First and foremost, this was one of the youngest teams in the league that had broken through for 47 wins and a spot in the playoffs. They had a 22-year-old and a 21-year-old leading them. The Magic have no reason to believe there is nothing but a bright future ahead.
The future on the court has seemed as bright as ever.
Off the court, the Magic seemed to have everything in front of them too. They entered the offseason with worlds of possibility to push the pace on their rebuild and take advantage of their newfound success. They had nearly $50 million in cap room to spend to expand their roster.
There were some big ideas involved. The Magic were at least reported to be among the teams meeting with Paul George, the golden goose of this free-agent class, even if that always seemed like a major reach considering what the team needed.
The cap room had fans dreaming big in the trade market too with everyone pitching semi-realistic trades involving Anfernee Simons, Darius Garland, Zach LaVine, and Trae Young.
But in the end, the Magic had a conservative summer. They signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to fill in as the team's fifth starter, giving them one of the best 3-and-D players in the league and a veteran with championship experience to boost this young team.
But then they largely kept most of their roster intact. They got creative using their extra cap room to sign Jonathan Isaac to a four-year extension. They re-signed Moritz Wagner, Goga Bitadze, and Gary Harris.
The biggest money move they made was signing Franz Wagner to a max extension. Jalen Suggs' extension is likely not too far down the road either.
Outside experts have largely praised the Magic for this restraint. They are largely considered one of the winners of this offseason.
The team did not have a gigantic summer by any means despite all that opportunity that seemed in front of them in their last summer with cap room to spend. They essentially brought back the same team that won 47 games last year, adding a rookie in Tristan da Silva and a veteran starter in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Jeff Weltman has always favored continuity and said after the summer was complete that you can only stick with continuity if the thing is working. There was a "if it's not broke, don't fix it" feeling to the season.
That will only work for so long. But the Magic made it clear they did not feel prepared to spend their tremendous assets right now to make a deal.
Despite the breakthrough as a team, despite Paolo Banchero's All-Star appearance giving the team some credibility league-wide and despite rookie contracts for both Franz Wagner and Banchero giving the team excess cap room that will soon get eaten up, the Magic played this summer with a ton of restraint.
They viewed their team seemingly not as one on the cusp of immediate contention in need of a short-term shock, but rather as one that still needed time to grow and get better. They acted like a team that was still rebuilding and developing. They left some critical needs unfilled to allow players like Banchero, Wagner, and Suggs plenty of room to grow and expand their games.
The Magic, in other words, did not see this as the right time to make their all-in move. This was not their time to push their chips in, spend their considerable draft capital or make the aggressive move that puts the team squarely in the Eastern Conference and the national conversation.
Instead, it was the time to double down on the investments they have already made. It was the time to see how far they can go on their own before they seek that outside help. The Magic want to hit a roadblock before they start making drastic changes to their roster.
Magic still need to see how good they can be
The time to make the major move—adding a third star or otherwise shifting the bench and touching the team's depth—was not in the immediate aftermath of their breakthrough season. Rather, it was the time to see how good the Orlando Magic can get as they currently exist.
The Magic do not want to fall into the trap of believing they are a finished product or that their young players especially cannot continue to improve and grow. If the Magic's goal is to be a team that has players who can do everything, the Magic have to find out just what they can and cannot do.
Adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope certainly helps. He will help with the team's shooting and boost the team's defense. He will help keep the team stable and give them a better movement shooter and a game-changing defender. Caldwell-Pope will ease some pressure off the Magic's defense and keep an all-defensive team presence if Suggs does not have the same injury luck.
Adding him is a significant move for this young team. He will boost the team as it already exists.
But he does not address the team's need to find a playmaker that was evident after the team's loss in the playoffs. Even Paolo Banchero said the team needed to find a table setter.
The Magic are clearly betting on Jalen Suggs and his growth as a playmaker. They are betting on being able to play that role by committee and seeing Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner grow as playmakers.
This season for the Magic will again be spent seeing just how much Banchero, Wagner and Suggs can carry and how they can expand their roles. The roadblocks will teach them where they have to go and the kinds of players they pursue and perhaps where they can compromise.
With that information behind them, then comes the big move. The move everyone is anticipating and eager to see. The kind of move that grabs headlines and elevates the team into title contention.
The Magic are still positioned well for that big move
The Orlando Magic are still well-positioned to make that move. Part of what the team set up this summer was the ability to make those moves. When the team is ready to push its chips in, it has the capital and trade pieces to do so.
Part of this summer was about building that trade capital for the next phase now that the team has spent its cap room and is now above the salary cap (but below the luxury tax for the moment).
They have depth now with superfluous players—Gary Harris is probably in the rotation ahead of Jett Howard or Caleb Houstan and Tristan da Silva may even have a hard time finding minutes. They have mid-tier salaries they can deal that they did not have last year.
This summer, Orlando really only had Jalen Suggs and Wendell Carter as players of some value to deal. Every mock trade for a substantial player seemed to involve those two players and they were not players the team was ready to deal.
Now they have those two (Suggs is unlikely considering how important he is), Cole Anthony, Gary Harris, Goga Bitadze, Moritz Wagner, and plenty more.
They can assemble the contracts to get a big-name player with their draft capital without giving up a key starter.
Orlando has been meticulous in creating contracts advantageous to the team. The front-loaded deals make for valuable trade pieces down the road.
This was not the time to push those chips in. Orlando still wants to see how the team develops before it makes conclusions on this young roster.
Everything starts on the floor and the holes the Magic still have to fill. Some of them may still feel obvious. Some of them may still yet to be discovered.
What they decided looking at their young team was that this was not the time to push their chips in. They decided their young team still needed room to grow.
Considering how many draft picks it takes to make some of these major moves, the Magic still can make a huge deal soon.
To be sure, that time is coming. To be sure, the Magic know they will have to pick up their pace and jump through their championship window. And to be sure, that window is opening with a player like Banchero on the verge of true superstardom.
Orlando was not ready this offseason. But the team will be ready very soon. And the Magic are still well-positioned to make that major move.