The Orlando Magic had not accomplished much of anything entering last season, but everyone was still excited for what the team could become.
Everyone acknowledged injuries derailed the 2025 season and the team still put up a good fight in a five-game series loss to the Boston Celtics. The team aggressively acquired Desmond Bane, seemingly going all-in and giving the team a major offensive boost.
The 2026 season was supposed to be a major breakthrough.
The injury to Franz Wagner defined much of the season as a crucial absence. But Jamahl Mosley clearly lost his voice with the locker room. The Magic never quite put all the pieces together and never lived up to expectations, even allowing for the injuries.
That has left only doubt surrounding the Magic entering the 2027 season. The team no longer has the benefit of the doubt. There is significantly less faith in this team's young stars.
Everyone wants to see potential energy turn to kinetic energy. And they are not buying in until the train is already rolling.
That is what is ahead of the Magic. They have a lot to prove. And not a lot of belief outside of the building.
Objectively, this should be a team poised for a breakthrough.
They are still very young. They dealt with tons of poor injury luck. They have proven that, when healthy, they can compete with any team in the Eastern Conference, reaching the NBA Cup semifinal last year and taking the 60-win Detroit Pistons to seven games and leading 3-1 before Wagner's playoff injury.
All of that is a formula to believe not only is there a better version of this team hiding in plain sight but a team that is poised to bounce back and return with a vengeance this season. This could still be the team everyone believed in last year.
It is understandable that expectations are cautious after last year's disappointment.
It is more undestandable considering how much tougher the competition has gotten.
The reality is the Magic might be better, but a clear reason for doubt about this Magic team is that the competition is a lot tougher. There is a lot more faith in other teams in the East. And it will be tougher to get to the top of the pile.
Nobody knows how the Magic will stand in this new East. It is a daunting challenge.
A changed Eastern Conference
It has felt like for two decades that the Eastern Conference was the lesser of the two conferences. It was an advantage to be in the East. The climb up was much easier.
That has changed slowly.
Last year was supposed to be wide open with Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton out with torn Achilles tendons. That was one of the reasons the hopes were so high for the Orlando Magic last year.
There was a lot of movement in the Eastern Conference this year that has the competition feeling stiffer than ever.
The Philadelphia 76ers added Jaylen Brown and LeBron James. The Toronto Raptors will, at some point, add Kawhi Leonard. The Indiana Pacers will get Haliburton back from injury. The Miami Heat picked up Giannis Antetokounmpo (and now Klay Thompson). The Washington Wizards will get their first full year with Trae Young and Anthony Davis. The Cleveland Cavaliers swung for Peyton Watson.
Even the Atlanta Hawks added Aaron Wiggins and Luguentz Dort to a solid team.
Notice that nobody is talking much about the Detroit Pistons (despite some of their intriguing shooting additions), the Boston Celtics (except in terms of what they lost in swapping for Paul George) or even the Cleveland Cavaliers (before the Peyton Watson trade, at least).
Orlando could win 45 games this season, and it would feel a lot better than last year's 45 wins. Nobody is sure whether that means the Magic will climb the standings with 45 wins either.
They may still be a Play-In team even if they are improved. The Margin will be that small.
"When you think about all the good teams in the Eastern Conference, not everybody can win 50 games," Vincent Goodwill said on The Hoop Collective. "It's not an indictment of what they've done. Desmond Bane had early struggles, and then the second half he didn't. He shot 43% from three after the All-Star break. If your second-best player is a health concern night after night. And I like Paolo Banchero's talent, but I wonder: Is he going to harness that? They are probably a little bit under."
Even the teams at the bottom -- the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls -- will likely be improved, accounting for the new Lottery rules that will force teams to stay competitive to guarantee the top odds.
There are a lot fewer "easy" wins on the schedule. And some very good teams will end up in the Play-In.
How teams sort themselves in the standings might come down to injury luck and even homecourt advantage or a top seed will not guarantee an easy Playoff series.
Questions about the stars
The questions surrounding the Orlando Magic are less about talent and more about potential.
The Desmond Bane acquisition worked -- as Vincent Goodwill noted, Bane shot 42.5 percent from three after the All-Star Break and 42.2 percent from three after Jan. 1. He gave the Magic the spacing and scoring they were desperate for and even figured out a way to break Ausar Thompson in the series with the Detroit Pistons -- 43.1 percent from three in that series and 10 for 24 in the final three games.
The upcoming season seems to be centered on Paolo Banchero's development and Franz Wagner's health. Both of those players have stagnated in the last two seasons.
This is certainly a season where both players have to prove something. This is a season where their team has to prove something.
The driving question for the national media is whether this is a star duo the Magic can continue building around. If a team has two All-Star players, it should be enough to remain competitive even with the constant shuffling the aprons require.
Nobody knows if Banchero and Wagner are of that quality. The Magic are betting they are.
But that will not be a sure thing in this Eastern Conference.
There is not a lot of belief in this team. But there is still a lot of potential. And with all the noise and doubt surrounding the Magic on the outside, it feels like they are a team that is poised to surprise.
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