Desmond Bane has become the reliable player to ask and try to get to the bottom of all of the Orlando Magic's problems.
He is a veteran and one of two players (Tyus Jones is the other) who have been out of the first round. He brings perspective from another team and their process to the way the Magic have operated, largely with the same roster, for the last four years.
Bane's outside perspective, while at the same time embracing everything about the Magic and their culture, has been one of the reasons he has been a good fit with the team. And Bane is starting to deliver the outside shooting he struggled with early in the year -- he has made 40.5 percent of his 5.3 3-point attempts per game since Jan. 1.
But the pieces have not fully come together. It has felt like one step forward, one step back for two months.
And after riding high on a two-game win streak, where the team seemed to rediscover much of its character, it felt like the team laid an egg in a favorable matchup against a good San Antonio Spurs team.
The frustrating part is that the loss to the Spurs followed all of the same patterns. The team came out of the gates slowly, letting their opponents dictate terms and build a lead. The team was playing catch-up the whole way.
Yet again, everyone was questioning the Magic's effort. Bane provided his thoughts on a team that has seemingly lost its way. But he and the other team leaders are struggling to get the Magic to the level they know they need to be at.
There is seemingly a soul-searching loss every week. That explains their inconsistency.
The question is: Who owns this struggle? And how do they come out of it?
"We're all taking ownership in this. We have to," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Sunday's loss. "What we walk through and what we look at in film is how this team plays. We have to sit down and guard. We started initially with that, and then some fouls were called. I think overall we didn't give the entire effort that we needed to beat a team of this caliber."
The Magic have not met expectations this year -- internal or external. Five games before the All-Star Break, the team is 25-23 and eighth in the Eastern Conference. They are still within striking distance of sixth (1.5 games behind) and even fourth (3.5 games behind). It is the same record the team had in 2024 when it finished with 47 wins and the 5-seed and one game ahead of last year's record at 48 games.
But it is hard to focus on what everyone else around the league is doing when there are so many issues internally to solve. There is no magic wand to correct a season's worth of frustrations.
The same issues, the same questions
The reality is that the Orlando Magic have been dealing with this issue of inconsistent effort and intensity since the beginning of the season.
While the Magic were never going to stay at the absolute low of the team's early-season four-game losing streak, that was a red flag that something was off.
In those early games, the Magic would often look lethargic and have long stretches where their typically strong defense gave way. Some of that came down to retooling the pace they were playing on offense and getting used to new personnel. Orlando mostly stabilized on both sides.
But the bottom still drops out far too often.
The struggles and difficulties this season have increased the noise surrounding coach Jamahl Mosley and his future. There is a lot of pressure to win with what the Magic gave up to acquire Bane and the rising costs for the team's roster.
But changing the coach will not matter if the players do not do their part. And that was the statement out of Sunday's loss. The players have to take ownership for the team's inconsistency and inability to execute.
"It don't have nothing to do with the coaches. That's on us," Desmond Bane said after Sunday's loss. "They aren't the ones out there sitting down and guarding. We don't have elaborate schemes, really, on either side of the ball. We know what's asked of us. We're a team that plays physical and plays hard, especially on the defensive end of the floor. That wasn't there."
Fans who are eager for a coaching change might zero in on the "elaborate schemes" line. But it was also a critical admission from Bane.
Orlando is not executing its basic foundations well enough to get to anything elaborate.
Mosley can certainly do more. But the team's play starts on teh court with the players.
Talent should be performing better
The Orlando Magic have gotten by a lot on talent.
Anthony Black emerged this year as a viable scoring option with a career-high 15.9 points per game. Desmond Bane has gotten himself right after the slow start to average 19.4 points per game and an improving 36.2 percent from three.
Paolo Banchero has looked like an All-Star again during the last month, averaging 24.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game on 49.8/40.7/77.2 shooting splits in his last 16 games.
The pieces should be coming together.
Instead, Orlando sits 15th in the league in defensive rating at 114.3 points allowed per 100 possessions and 16th in offensive rating at 113.9 points per 100 possessions. This is essentially the most average team in the NBA right now.
This has happened with Franz Wagner out with a high ankle sprain and Jalen Suggs still recovering from his various injuries. Injuries have played a role.
But that still does not excuse the team playing without energy. That was the bedrock for this team on its rise the last four years. And nobody is finding answers to bring that identity back.
"As we continue to go forward, we'll talk to the group and see what that looks like. It should never be a factor of effort and energy coming out on a night against a team that really did just fly the day of the game," Mosley said after Sunday's game.
Sunday saw the Orlando Magic put in a solid defensive showing -- a 110.9 defensive rating was the team's best since the win in Berlin against the Memphis Grizzlies, another game where the Magic got off to a poor start.
But it was clear the Spurs were the more aggressive and energetic team. And solving that will take everyone to correct.