Among the Eastern Conference’s top six seeds so far in 2023/24, four teams (Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, and New York) made it to the second round of last season’s playoffs, while a fifth (Milwaukee) has been a perennial top seed in recent years.
The one outlier sits at fourth place in the conference with a 17-11 record: the Magic.
Orlando hasn’t won more than 42 games in a season since 2010/11 and wasn’t considered a strong bet to make the postseason entering training camp this fall. But Jamahl Mosley‘s club has gotten off to a good start, fueled by a defense that’s currently the fourth-best in the NBA (110.5 defensive rating).
The Magic are one of the NBA’s worst shooting teams, ranking narrowly ahead of the last-place Pistons in three-pointers made per game (10.0) and three-point percentage (33.5%). However, they’re far more efficient on two-point shots and they benefit from playing a physical game, leading the league in personal fouls drawn per contest (23.1) and placing behind only Philadelphia in free throw attempts per night (27.3).
A pair of young forwards, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, lead the Magic in points per game with 21.2 and 20.3, respectively. The secondary scoring comes primarily from guards Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony, as well as bigs Moritz Wagner and Wendell Carter, with Gary Harris, Anthony Black, Goga Bitadze, Joe Ingles, and Jonathan Isaac also playing regular roles.
The Magic have spent most of the season playing without their starting point guard – Markelle Fultz, who has been out since early November due to a knee issue – and their starting center (Carter only recently returned from a hand injury that has limited him to eight appearances so far this season). Black and Bitadze have capably filled those spots, but it will be interesting to see how Mosley adjusts his rotation if and when everyone’s healthy and available.
It’s hard to know exactly what to make of these Magic, whose offensive firepower is so limited and who have had an up-and-down year so far — a nine-game winning streak from November 15 to December 1 has been sandwiched by a 5-5 start and a 3-6 stretch as of late.
Orlando has racked up wins against some of the league’s worst teams, including Washington (twice), Detroit, Charlotte, Portland, and Utah, but also has registered impressive victories against the Bucks, Nuggets, and Celtics.
We want to know what you think. Are the Magic a legitimate playoff team? A play-in club? Are they a good candidate to upgrade their roster at the trade deadline, or is it in their best interest to let their young players continue developing this season and wait until the offseason to focus on roster changes?
Head to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts!
Zach LaVine trade!!! Bulls get Fultz/Isaac injury sandwich and hopefully a player with potential like Suggs or Black…
There is no chance the Magic include Suggs in a deal for LaVine. And Black is creeping into that territory as well if he isn’t already there.
Even as someone who wasn’t a fan of Black coming out of the draft, I would not give up that kind of talent for Lavine’s bloated contract and injury history. If they do end up trading him down the line, I think they can do better
The Magic could use more shooting, but I get the feeling they don’t want to compromise their young players with high potential to do so. Trading guys like Howard and Okeke and picks is more likely than a splashy move with Black, Suggs, or Cole Anthony, imo. The underperforming Gary Harris would likely be the salary filler in such a deal. They’re also like five mil under the cap without making any moves. A waiver claim could also come at some point.
Legit playoff team. The teams presumed to be are not much better than what this write up points out and are in no real position to improve via the trade market.
The magic should use future picks to get help now. Clay would be perfect for them.
Orlando will NOT going to trade Jonathan Isaac,period. Markelle Fultz doesn’t have any trade value at this moment, period. I would trade Suggs, AB and perhaps fee first round picks to ATL for Trae Young that is the player that Orlando Magic needs to be a championship contender.Something else I can’t believe that Orlando passed on Jaime Jaquez jr. Nobody saw that one coming only Pat Riley did.
They may not, but they should certainly entertain the idea of trading Isaac, not that I’d expect there to be much of a market for him. He’s only signed through next season on a non-guaranteed deal, and $18 million for a guy who plays 15mpg and can’t stay healthy is a lot. With the team ready to contend, that money could potentially be better spent elsewhere. That is, unless they plan to give him more minutes…if he can even handle that. Even then, he’d be on an expiring contract and who knows if he’ll resign?
Little chance Suggs gets traded imo. His defense is critical to the team’s identity and he’s still on his rookie contract. And what has Trae Young accomplished? The Hawks have been fairly healthy this season and have still been bad. Even in some parallel universe where they do trade for him, keeping Suggs would be priority #1. He needs as good of a defender as possible alongside him and you aren’t putting Fultz next to him given his skillset.
Trade Fultz and Houston to Utah for Horton-Tucker, Kris Dunn with cash and 2nds. Or trade Fultz and Carter Jr and some picks to Brooklyn for Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas. Sit Ben Simmons(expiring contract) Then trade Goga and Okeke for Wiseman