Orlando Magic's over/under win totals expect improvement, even in sameness

Orlando Magic fans like to feel like their team is overlooked.

That is fair. After a decade wandering in the rebuild desert, the team got the number one pick and saw him become an All-Star in just two seasons and then got nothing. All the while, the Magic earned the 5-seed and won 47 games, pushing the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in their first-round series.

That playoff series felt like a national coming-out party for the young Magic team. It was their first time on the national stage. And it set into motion the belief the Magic could be one of the surprise teams in the league next year—the national media is already suggesting they could take the leap into contender status.

Fans will reserve their ire for when the schedule comes out in August and they count up the national TV appearances the team gets—surely it will be more than one this year.

With the offseason mostly complete, the 2025 season is already beginning to take shape. And as the league left Las Vegas after completing Summer League, the sportsbooks released their over/under predictions for the upcoming season.

The Magic may not be in line for another double-digit win improvement after going from 34 wins to 47 last year. But they are not exactly sneaking up on anyone anymore.

The Magic’s over/under expects the team’s record to look similar to last season’s

FanDuel Sportsbook has set the Magic's win total at over/under 47.5 wins for the upcoming season, essentially predicting the Magic to match their record from last season. That is at least the expectation.

That win total places the Orlando Magic fifth in the Eastern Conference once again, but tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers.

That seems to be the going thought about the pecking order in the Eastern Conference. There is a clear favorite four in the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Milwaukee Bucks with the Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, and Cleveland Cavaliers comprising the next tier of contenders. The Miami Heat are lurking at eighth.

Indeed, the overall Eastern Conference championship odds have the Magic sitting in fifth at 200/1 odds (+2,000).

This is new territory for the Magic. They are not used to entering the season with these kinds of expectations to compete at a high level.

It is also, of course, a sign the Magic still have another level to reach. They are not quite in the championship tier.

Orlando is betting that continuity will once again be their ticket to improvement. They added Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency and Tristan da Silva in the draft. They spent the rest of their offseason retaining the remainder of their roster that was left to free agency.

The team is hoping that it can at least repeat last year's success. They are clearly expected to finish with roughly the same record. That may not seem like progress, especially in a rough-and-tumble Eastern Conference.

Obviously improvement will have to be measured in a few different ways.

The easy thing to say is for the Magic to improve is to get to the second round of the playoffs. They lost in Game 7 of the first round, the only way to do better is to get to the second round. Players mentioned after the season ended that their goal was to secure homecourt advantage after the home team won all seven games in their playoff series.

But that will be difficult. And the Magic will have find growth and development in other areas while still maintaining the results that elevated the team last year.

The team has to find a way to sort themselves in the crowded Eastern Conference. One thing the Magic should know entering the season is that every game is going to be a fight and every game will be important with playoff seedings likely to go to the final day of the regular season.

But the expectations are quite clearly there. Orlando expects a lot out of itself now after its playoff appearance. Clearly the rest of the league adn the betting markets are expecting something more from the Magic this year too.

We will have to wait until training camp opens on Oct. 1 to see if the Magic can live up to these heightened expectations and live up to this billing. The Magic are clearly not flying under the radar anymore.