The Orlando Magic are having their moment right now.
The team is on a seven-game win streak for the first time since December 2010 and is the toast of the league in many ways.
The Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns share the title of longest win streak in the league with a seven-game streak at the moment. Orlando won its pair of home games in the In-Season Tournament to sit in first place entering the final day of group play Tuesday.
Everything is working right now. As Paolo Banchero tweeted after Sunday's 130-117 win over the Charlotte Hornets:
let’s keep goin!!! #MagicTogether
— Paolo Banchero (@Pp_doesit) November 27, 2023
That is the feeling around the Amway Center and AdventHealth Training Center. Everyone is excited and eager to win and to keep winning while also understanding the work that is still to come.
As we all expected, the accolades have come with the winning. And the Magic got a pretty big one Monday.
The NBA named Paolo Banchero the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. It is Banchero's first career Player of the Week award (after he virtually swept the monthly Rookie of the Month awards all last year). It is the Magic's first Player of the Week award winner since Nikola Vucevic on Nov. 17, 2019.
Banchero became the 13th player in Magic history to win the award.
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker and Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero have been named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for Week 5 of the 2023-24 season (Nov. 20-26). pic.twitter.com/aZdTlMKAVZ
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) November 27, 2023
This is an individual award, but also one that is very much about how the team is performing. Franz Wagner was also named a nominee for the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award.
The numbers above really say it all.
Banchero has turned in an incredible showing this past week, averaging 23.5 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game and 5.0 assists per game with shooting splits of 54.4/52.6/62.5. He made 10 of his 19 3-pointers this week.
That has brought Banchero's season averages up to 19.8 points per game, 6.5 rebounds per game and 4.6 assists per game with shooting splits of 48.8/43.6/65.1. Those numbers are closer to his averages from his breakthrough rookie season.
This is the expansion of his game everyone expected to see. And this surely does not feel like the last time Banchero will win an award like this.
We are, after all, just a few weeks from the opening of All-Star voting. If the Magic continue to win at this clip and stay high in the standings, Banchero is sure to get the invitation to Indianapolis.
It was one of many accolades the team seemed to be receiving Monday.
Just about every national podcast from No Dunks to TrueHoop to NBA Pulse to Locked On NBA (oh hey, that is me) had discussions about the Magic after they won their seventh straight game.
The early weekly power rankings also shared some love with the Magic too.
John Schuhmann of NBA.com jumped the Magic 10 spots to No. 7 in his weekly power rankings. Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer jumped the Magic up eight spots to No. 14 in his monthly power rankings that focuses on a team's title chances, which is a really strong showing from such a young team.
Other outlets are sure to follow with the Magic flirting with the top 10.
The national media is also starting to descend on Orlando and ask, "What is going on? And is this something real?" as this team seems to arrive to the top of the standings before schedule.
Josh Robbins of The Athletic (formerly of the Orlando Sentinel and the Magic beat) ventured to Orlando ahead of the games against the Washington Wizards this week at the Amway Center to ask whether this start is sustainable. The Magic kept telling everyone Sunday that it absolutely is and they are just getting started.
Marc J. Spears of AndScape spoke with coach Jamahl Mosley about how his team built and is handling its success now that it is a team everyone is chasing. It is a careful reminder that this team is still growing and learning and improving.
For the first time in a long time, the Magic are experiencing a glut of attention -- we see it on our traffic on this Web site and we can see it in the Amway Center where the Magic have sold out seven of their eight games on their home floor. It is a new world for this franchise.
Everyone is indeed curious to see how the team handles the attention and continues to grow. Everyone is curious to see if this team can keep up this pace and arrive earlier than expected.
Magic fans are always wary remember both that the last team to start 11-5 in 2012 ended up finishing sixth in the middle of the Dwight-mare. The team started 19-13 in 2015 and fell apart in January to miss the playoffs and settle at 35 wins for the season. And even the last time the Magic won seven games in a row in the 2011 season ended with a disappointing first-round exit.
There is still a lot of work to come for this Magic team. The season is far from over. The job is nowhere near done.
This team seems to realize that and seems determined to make sure this attention is not unwarranted.
The award the Magic took home Monday was certainly a start. It is a recognition of the work that not only Banchero has put in but every player has put in to build this. Individual recognition only comes from team success. Everyone should understand that.
And early this seaosn, the Magic have been one of the best stories and one of the best teams in the league. The recognition comes with that. Now Orlando just has to sustain it.