President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman did not give the answers fans wanted after a quiet trade deadline that saw the team only duck the tax by trading Tyus Jones.
Considering how much the Orlando Magic had struggled this year to meet their expectations and were well short of where they hoped to be this season, the Magic seemed like they needed a refresh. With the promise of being healthy to end the season, Orlando seemed like it could have shored up some roster weaknesses on the margins to set itself up better for the rest of the season.
Weltman did not seem to be talking about anything on the margins and surrounding the team's core. It seemed he was more concerned with the big picture and not breaking up the core that had so little time on the court.
His argument after the deadline was that the Magic had shown signs in the brief moments they were healthy. Orlando will need to learn a lot about its roster at full strength before making any changes.
"We're not afraid to make bold moves as I think last summer showed," Weltman said after the trade deadline. "But the answer to frustration isn't to make a move for the sake of making a move. The one thing to understand is the way that our team is set up right now with contracts and timing.
"For us to make a significant move means we have to break into the core. For all the expectations that were placed on us and the hopes we had coming into the season, we're the fourth-youngest team in the league. For us to make a real move that is going to move the needle is going to mean breaking up our core. That core has been excellent when it has been on the floor together."
That was not exactly a satisfying answer to a quiet deadline in a disappointing season. But it revealed a critical truth.
Orlando is locked into this core of four (maybe five) players -- Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane and Jalen Suggs (with Anthony Black as the maybe). The Magic will go as far as they can take them. And the team had not seen them play long enough to make any of the really big decisions.
And that is the truth Orlando cannot avoid. If this core does not turn out, the whole project will fall apart quickly. And there may be no getting better than the team has now.
Orlando will go as far as this core of players take them.
The core four
If there is something to bet on, though, the Magic's core four players of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane and Jalen Suggs have something to work with.
For all of Banchero's struggles, he is still a magnet on offense, attracting loads of defensive attention. And he is averaging 21.3 points per game with a career-best 55.9 percent true shooting percentage.
For all of Wagner's injuries, he is averaging 21.3 points per game and shooting 36.5 percent from three. Bane is averaging 19.6 points per game and shooting 37.2 percent from three, with plenty more to unlock.
Suggs is averaging 14.1 points per game and could be one of the best catch-and-shoot shooters in the league, making 40.5 percent on 3.4 3-point attempts per game, according to Second Spectrum.
In 137 minutes across 13 games, the Magic have a +11.8 net rating with those four players on the court together. It has a stellar 119.7 offensive rating and even better 107.9 defensive rating as part of a starting group that has torn apart the league -- even with two down games as Wagner returns from a high ankle sprain.
There is something to work with there. Something that indeed needs more time.
So many of the problems the Magic have this year have been about availability. Orlando has not seen all the parts together. It is one thing if a role player has to miss some time, but the Magic went from missing one of their key superstars to missing their biggest role player to missing their other star while the other was coming back from injury.
The Magic cannot make conclusions about their roster because they have not played enough together.
These final 29 games will be a proof of concept for the team and whether this whole project can work. Getting the 6-seed and climbing out of the Play-In is as much about making something of this season as it is about figuring out what this group's potential is.
If, as Weltman claims, the Playoffs are about your best five-man unit against the other team's best five-man unit, the Magic can create some pretty powerful starting lineups to compete. That is the hope Orlando is building everything on.
The Magic are invested in this group
The Orlando Magic's lone move at the trade deadline was to duck the tax. The team was unwilling to start its repeater clock for this team.
The Magic knew when they signed Paolo Banchero to his max extension, they were committing to a core of players that would be hard to move. They knew they were diving headfirst into the tax and aprons.
Among the Magic's top four players, they are committed to an estimated $155.1 million (Banchero's final first-year salary is not set yet) for the 2027 season. The salary cap for the 2027 season is expected to be $166 million.
That should tell you how far over the cap the Magic will be to fill out the rest of their roster. And Orlando rightfully will not budge from this core or look to cut payroll to get under the tax or recreate cap room. This is the group they will play with.
The Magic have all four under conract until the summer of 2029 when Desmond Bane's contract expires.
Orlando has those three seasons (including this one) to prove that this core works together before the team has to start making some tough decisions. The Magic's championship window is open, whether they are ready or not.
That pressure is already beginning to build.
"That's the convergence that is going to come at us," Jeff Weltman said after the trade deadline. "Is it now? Is it this summer? Is it next year? The tricky part is when the group has been whole, it has been really good. It's kind of what we hoped for. Now the trick is: Can you get it whole, can you keep it whole, and get a long enough look to see what's what and an understanding of how best to go from there when you do make a real move. And with that, the confluence of contracts and all of that. That's what drives a lot of moves. That's something you have to weigh every year."
It should add to some urgency to make this work, an opportunity the team perhaps passed up at the deadline. Or maybe the Magic are holding their water for a bigger role player transformation.
Regardless, the team will go as far as these four players take them. Orlando is committed to that group.