The 2025-26 NBA season is here! We’re rolling out our previews — examining the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and win projections for all 30 franchises — from the still-rebuilding teams to the true title contenders.
2024-25 finish
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Record: 41-41 (sixth in the East, lost to the Celtics in the first round)
Offseason moves
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Additions: Desmond Bane, Tyus Jones, Jase Richardson, Noah Penda, Orlando Robinson, Jamal Cain
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Subtractions: Cole Anthony, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cory Joseph, Gary Harris, Caleb Houstan
Paolo Banchero played only 46 games last season. (Stefan Milic/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
The Big Question: Can the Magic construct a championship-caliber offense?
I’ve written about this a few times over the years, and chances are you’ve heard it on an NBA podcast or broadcast or two: Orlando has not finished in the top half of the league in offensive efficiency since Dwight Howard left the Magic to join the Lakers.
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Kevin Durant has won four Olympic gold medals since the last time the Magic finished better than 15th in points scored per possession. If I’m counting right, 50 Marvel movies have come and gone from theaters since the last time an Orlando team was mediocre at putting the ball in the basket. There are Central Floridian teenagers who have never seen an average NBA offense up close and personal … unless the visiting team brings one to town.
If you’re thinking, “Seems like it’d be pretty hard to win very much if you’ve had a bad offense for almost 15 years,” well, that’s because it is: The Magic have made the playoffs just four times in the last 13 seasons, and none of those four playoff runs advanced beyond the opening round.
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After consecutive postseason appearances in which they produced points at a rate that would’ve finished dead last in the NBA during the regular season — and last year fielding what was, according to the great John Schuhmann, “the worst offensive team … to make the playoffs in the 29 seasons for which we have play-by-play data” — president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman and Co. decided that the time had come to throw caution to the wind. The goal was lofty: Find the perfect complementary piece to build an offense capable of complementing the elite defense that head coach Jamahl Mosley has built in Orlando. The price was even loftier: four unprotected first-round picks.
In comes Desmond Bane, a career 41% 3-point shooter who’s 22nd in the NBA in total made triples over the last four seasons, to provide a desperately needed decongestant for an attack that finished dead last in 3-pointers per game and team 3-point accuracy, and 27th in half-court scoring efficiency. Bane has grown significantly over the years as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, complementary playmaker and north-south driver, too, making him a seemingly perfect fit next to max-salaried cornerstones Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.
Bane’s shooting should help widen the driving lanes for the bruising big wings’ forays to the basket. His off-ball movement should help inject some dynamism into a Magic attack that ranked in the middle of the pack in average distance traveled per game on offense last season, and 25th in average speed traveled, according to Second Spectrum. His ability to make something happen with the ball in his hands should reduce their overall shot-creation burden, and the possibilities of him partnering with them in screening actions — including as a screen-setter himself in inverted actions — should open up more opportunities for Orlando to put defenses in a bind.
Add in fellow former Grizzly Tyus Jones, who’s shot 39.8% from 3-point range over the last four seasons — and who perpetually ranks at or near the top of the assist-to-turnover ratio leaderboard, which ought to help Orlando’s bottom-third-of-the-league turnover rate — and first-round pick Jase Richardson, who shot 41.2% from the college 3-point line in his lone year at Michigan State (and who’s shown some exciting flashes in preseason), and Orlando might actually have enough firepower to go toe-to-toe with expected beasts of the East like the Cavaliers and Knicks. Provided, of course, the Magic can keep their big guns on the court.
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Only three playoff teams (Oklahoma City, Memphis and the Lakers) lost more games due to injury last season than the Magic, according to Spotrac. Banchero and Wagner were both sidelined by torn oblique muscles, while All-Defensive teamer/attitudinal talisman Jalen Suggs was limited to just 35 games by a left knee injury that required season-ending surgery; all told, Orlando’s top three players shared the court for just 97 minutes across just six games last season. The hope is that better health for the three franchise pillars — and continued availability for Bane, who played 69 games last season after missing significant time in each of the previous two seasons in Memphis — will allow the Magic to have the same kind of year-over-year surge that Cleveland enjoyed last season.
[Get more Magic news: Orlando team feed]
The fear is that, with Suggs still not back to full-contact 5-on-5 work more than seven months after surgery, and potentially still “weeks” away from getting back in the fold, we might not get to see the full-strength squad that Orlando’s brass had drawn up for a while. (Key reserve Moe Wagner still being a ways off from returning after tearing the ACL in his left knee last December doesn’t help, either.) That, in turn, could prevent the Magic from developing the sort of chemistry and cohesion critical in creating a potent offense, and impede their expected progress up the Eastern standings.
If Banchero, Franz and Bane can quickly find some synergy, though, and if Suggs and Moe are able to return and provide both instant production and their customary pugilistic play, the Magic could have the right sort of recipe to become a team that’s more than the sum of its parts.
“I think we should be a deep playoff team,” Banchero recently told Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “Hopefully, that means Finals. But if it’s anything shorter than that, then Eastern Conference finals. I want to play deep into the playoffs.”
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Sprinkle in increased growth from connective-tissue youngsters like Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva, and efficient interior contributions from big men Wendell Carter Jr. and Goga Bitadze, and Orlando really might have a chance to damage defenses at a league-average level. Combine that with the kind of defense that’s been Orlando’s calling card under Mosley, and the Magic could be the kind of contender that fans have been waiting a very, very long time to see.
Best-case scenario
All of the aforementioned health questions break Orlando’s way, giving Mosley the time, reps and raw materials with which to build a two-way monster; the Magic finish top five in defensive efficiency and top 10 on the other end, exorcising all the demons of terrible offenses past. Banchero, Wagner and Bane all make the All-Star team; Paolo (who takes a leap in his scoring efficiency and inside-out passing) and Franz (who finally irons out the kink in that jumper) make All-NBA; Mosley wins Coach of the Year. Orlando blows past 55 wins, takes the No. 1 seed in the East, and rides a miracle season to the NBA Finals, as Kevin Pelton’s Simulation No. 620 becomes blissful reality.
If everything falls apart
Suggs’ knee is never right and, as a result, neither are the Magic. Banchero, Bane and Wagner all put up good numbers, but without Suggs’ combination of elite point-of-attack defense, secondary playmaking and knockdown spot-up shooting, Mosley can’t quite find the right combinations to be able to field consistently potent two-way lineups without exploitable shortcomings on one end or the other. The offense improves a little, but the defense slips more, and Orlando again finds itself futzing around .500, unable to break through in a conference that once seemed ripe for the taking — and wondering if it’s gone all-in with a hand that ultimately might not be good enough to drag the pot.
2025-26 schedule
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Season opener: Oct. 22 vs. Miami
Orlando has won 52 or more games just four times in franchise history, all led by a transformational Hall of Fame center. There’s no Shaq or Dwight here … but if the injury bug doesn’t bite, there’s enough talent here to be able to approach a mid-50s win total.
More season previews
East: Atlanta Hawks • Boston Celtics • Brooklyn Nets • Charlotte Hornets • Chicago Bulls • Cleveland Cavaliers • Detroit Pistons • Indiana Pacers • Miami Heat • Milwaukee Bucks • New York Knicks • Orlando Magic • Philadelphia 76ers • Toronto Raptors • Washington Wizards
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West: Dallas Mavericks • Denver Nuggets • Golden State Warriors • Houston Rockets • LA Clippers • Los Angeles Lakers • Memphis Grizzlies • Minnesota Timberwolves • New Orleans Pelicans • Oklahoma City Thunder • Phoenix Suns • Portland Trail Blazers • Sacramento Kings • San Antonio Spurs • Utah Jazz
