Last Updated on May 25, 2026 4:17 pm by Mike Passador | Published: May 25, 2026

The Magic made a bold move over the summer to try and get over the hump and while Desmond Bane was great, giving Orlando some of the things they were missing, injuries once again prevented this team from reaching its final form. A thrilling first-round series ended the wrong way for the Magic as they head back to the drawing board with a lot less capital to maneuver going forward.

How’d It Go?

Orlando was firmly entrenched as a team on the rise, with a solid trio to build around consisting of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs. The defense was elite at times but the Magic lacked shooting prowess and scoring potential. Signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope prior to last season was a step in the right direction, but he was still too reliant on other players creating for him to get at the root causes of the issue. The Magic took a massive swing in trading KCP and a haul of draft picks for Desmond Bane, and he was meant to be the finishing touch on the roster. It made a lot of sense because Bane is an elite, high-volume 3-point shooter, a solid point-of-attack defender and a capable scoring player who can get his own shot. The player was a great fit. The price? Questionable.

Still, it was a big move for a player that we can all agree is good, and Bane’s addition was meant to push the Magic further up the standings and into title contention. It did not play out that way.

Orlando struggled to find a rhythm in the early going. Rather than Bane’s shooting rubbing off on the team, their lack of quality seemed to rub off on him. An expensive team with real aspirations — and expectations — was sitting at 19-15 through the end of December and hit the All-Star break at 28-25. Even as Bane rounded into form, the Magic were a maddening watch. The defense was generally very good but there were major lapses from time to time, and scoring points was an ongoing battle. Orlando reeled off a seven-game win streak in March to get back into the heart of the playoff race but followed that up with a six-game losing streak. That was snapped with a win over the Kings and the Magic still found themselves in relative control with upcoming games against teams they were chasing in the standings; they proceeded to lose by 52 to Toronto and 29 to Atlanta. Somehow they found steady ground with a five-game winning streak in April and had a chance to secure a proper playoff berth on the final day of the season, but lost to a Boston team that sat basically everyone of consequence. The Magic tried to do the same but got too cute; Bane played six minutes in the first half and Wagner was limited due to persistent injuries, and the Orlando had to change course and throw Bane back onto the court in a futile attempt to dodge the Play-In. It was a perfect encapsulation of the season as the Magic were clearly better than their opponent on paper but could not find a way to deliver; they couldn’t score and got outworked by a third-string unit to limp into the Play-In tournament.

Injuries once again played a big part in the Magic’s disappointing season. Wagner basically missed three months, only making a brief cameo during the team’s trip to Europe in mid-January. Suggs missed about a month during that stretch as well. Banchero missed a couple of weeks early in the year. It wasn’t all bad, as Anthony Black put together a great season worthy of a Most Improved Player nod. He too missed about a month late in the season as the Magic couldn’t really catch a break. Tristan da Silva took a step forward in his sophomore season and Wendell Carter Jr. put together a sturdy — and healthy — season. It was a bit of patchwork but the Magic were unable to live up to expectations.

The playoffs were a wild ride as Orlando took the top-seeded Pistons to the brink before authoring a 3-1 series collapse. The teams traded disgusting offensive efforts but ultimately the Pistons had more in the tank, especially with Wagner getting hurt and missing the final three games. Orlando was in prime position to win the series multiple times over but extended scoring droughts were their undoing to cap off a season that was basically defined by overall underperformance and missed opportunities. There were flashes of the Magic looking like the team they were supposed to be but the lows were a cold dose of reality that the mix wasn’t right.

Coaching

The Magic have already made their first change to said mix in dispatching Jamahl Mosley, who has already found a new job as the coach of the Pelicans.

While Mosley helped guide the Magic out of the wilderness with steady year-over-year improvement, their lack of progress after the Bane trade was too much for him to overcome. Add in rumors that a “star player” would be heavily displeased if Mosley returned and anything short of a deep playoff run was going to be curtains.

While Mosley once again cobbled together a strong defense and can point to injury problems as limiting factors beyond his control, the Magic were never consistently more than the sum of their parts. Despite the arrival of Bane, the Magic actually shot fewer 3-pointers per game than they did last year. They ranked 17th in net rating — the same as last year — and while they jumped from 27th to 18th offensively, their defense slipped from second to 13th. It was robbing Peter to pay Paul, only Paul didn’t get that big of a check. That all got exposed in horrific fashion in the playoffs as Orlando could not generate reliable scoring. Some of that is on the roster but at the end of the day, Mosley didn’t look like a coach that had the answers to his biggest problem.

The Magic coaching job is a moderately appealing one as the roster has some winning players and in theory should be competitive at a high level. The pieces are in place for the next boss to oversee a tangible improvement, though we could just as easily see that the roster has one too many fatal flaws to get where it wants to go. It’s winning time for Orlando so there’s plenty of pressure to get this right.

The Players

Paolo Banchero

PF, Orlando Magic

ADP: 29.1 / 28.3 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 54/89 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 74/129 (8/9-cat)

It was another year of the same story for Banchero, whose stat set flaws once again left him comically short of his ADP. He’s one of those players where the rankings don’t quite capture his actual value because his counting stats do indeed make him valuable. Case in point: Banchero made some improvements across the box score this season but it’s still an uphill battle with a stat set that features such rickety percentages and defense. Overall, he was a top-75/125 player in 8/9-cat leagues. If you punt FT%, Banchero jumps to top-65/100. If you punt FG%, Banchero is also a top-65/100 value. If you punt both percentages, he’s a top-50/85 guy. Do you want your second or third-round pick to force you into such a strict punt build? Not necessarily, but it’s not impossible to take Banchero near his ADP and assemble a legitimately good fantasy team.

He also managed new career-highs in his problem categories of FG% and FT% and suited up in 72 games. Banchero was also able to deliver a great finishing kick, jumping about 40 spots in the rankings after the All-Star break (without punting either percentage), and there was about a month after the break when he was a top-15 guy in 8-cat. It’s good to see him make some strides in efficiency, and even marginal improvement should keep fantasy GMs invested despite the fact that he continues to fight an uphill battle because of the core flaws in his stat set. Banchero isn’t a perfect fantasy player but he’s also capable of major impact if you can plan ahead.

Franz Wagner

SF, Orlando Magic

ADP: 35.7 / 34.9 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 247/246 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 84/81 (8/9-cat)

Fantasy GMs were hoping for a bounce-back out of Wagner after he was limited to 60 games a year ago, but they instead saw him take a turn for the worse. Wagner dealt with a lingering left ankle sprain that he never fully recovered from after first incurring the injury on December 7th. Up to that point, he was a top-25/20 player in standard formats by posting strong points on solid efficiency paired with good boards and assists. Unfortunately, Wagner’s injury affected him the rest of the season and he was a total non-factor in fantasy leagues. He played in just four games from December 8 to April 1 and was limited upon returning… and managed to get hurt again in the playoffs too.

While Wagner’s season sample size is too small to draw any meaningful conclusions about potential fantasy improvements, he was serviceable behind the arc and gained ground in FG% overall. He still left a lot of money on the table but Wagner posting top-25/50 value overall despite decent percentages and limited output in steals, blocks a triples only underscores what type of ceiling he may have. His absence was a huge problem for Orlando and the team looked like a shell of itself when he wasn’t around to provide the all-around play that has become foundational for this roster. Wagner was moving in the right direction but ultimately it’s tough to be happy with 34 games of output.

Desmond Bane

SG, Orlando Magic

ADP: 44.7 / 42.8 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 16/13 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 46/40 (8/9-cat)

The Magic paid a pretty penny to bring Bane in and while it was a high cost, he was basically the missing piece for this team on paper. Orlando needed a volume 3-point shooter, reliable secondary scoring with go-to potential and someone who could capably handle the ball here and there. Add in Bane’s defense and you have a great fit. Things didn’t start out that way, and Bane was caught up in Orlando’s persistent offensive struggles early in the campaign. He was perhaps the most obvious buy-low on the board for as long as he was sitting outside the top-100 and ended up breaking through for managers who were able to trust the track record. Bane’s slow start was part of a normal adjustment period when a good player lands on a new team, and he was a must-start guy thereafter with top-20 value over the last three months of the season.

Bane benefited from Wagner’s major injury woes and ended up as the team’s most consistent scoring threat from start to finish even with those rocky first few weeks. He lost a little bit in the counting stats and posted his fewest 3-pointers per game since his rookie campaign but the beauty of Bane’s fantasy game is that he’s above average in pretty much every category. When you fall from that kind of height, you end up with a smooth top-50 season despite starting behind the eight ball.

Jalen Suggs

SG, Orlando Magic

ADP: 104.0 / 120.0 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 70/86 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 43/51 (8/9-cat)

This is just a sneak peek of the Season Wrap. The entire roster is covered, as well as the Fantasy Star, Letdown, One to Watch and One Burning Question for this team. You’ll need to have an Ethos 360, All-Sport or NBA FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up! Premium Access Required

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Mike Passador

Mike graduated from Boston University’s Dual Degree Program with a BA in Economics and a BS in Business with Concentrations in Marketing and Operations Management. He is a faithful supporter of Toronto sports and the Detroit Lions and is always ready to be let down. Tweet to him @Mike_Pandador, but if you badmouth Jose Calderon you might get blocked.

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