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Orlando Magic Embrace the Pressure in 2025–26: Is This the Breakout Year?
The Orlando Magic enter the 2025-2026 season with high hopes. The pundits like them to improve. The fans like them to improve, and the squad has no problem with embracing those raised expectations.
At just 22 years old, Paolo Banchero will be asked to lead this team. “Expectations from the outside are one thing, but internally you should expect a lot out of yourself as a player and as a team” Banchero told Pulp City Magazine on Media Day. “Living up to the expectations that you set for yourself is the most important thing.” Banchero turns 23 early in the season, but he’s already made an all-star team and hopes to be there again. In the offseason, he worked on his three point shooting and tried to return to a more traditional off-season routine.
He’ll be paired in the frontcourt with 24-year-old Franz Wagner, fresh off a European Championship in the summer leaving little time off “I feel good”, Wagner says. “I think our expectations should be higher than any of the other years.” He’s also worked to eliminate a hitch in his three point shot, hoping to improve his shooting percentage significantly.
Those two stars are the anchors for the Magic team, but management went all out during the off-season to add the pieces around them that would propel Orlando to the next level. The big get was shooting guard Desmond Bane in a trade with Memphis. Bane averaged 19 points a game with the Grizzlies and perhaps more importantly, shot more than 40 percent from three point range. Banchero is excited to have him. “He’s going to be a huge part of what we do”. Bane steps into a Magic backcourt with questions. Last season’s starting point guard Jalen Suggs missed the last 21 games of the season with knee surgery and only played in 35 games overall. Suggs called Bane “an absolute dawg” and looks forward to working with him if Suggs is healthy at the start of the season. To shore up the point guard position, the Magic brought in veteran Tyus Jones in free agency. They also drafted point guard Jase Richardson, the son of former Magic player Jason Richardson, and he hopes to contribute as well.
The Magic decided not to make any changes at the center position with Wendell Carter returning, along with Goga Bitadze. They will also get back Moe Wagner from a torn ACL at some point in the first half of the season. The older brother of Franz brings swag and energy to the team coming off the bench. That bench will be led by Anthony Black, the former lottery pick now in his third season and ready for an increased role in the backcourt. Tristan DaSilva is coming off helping Germany win the European Championship, and looking for more minutes off the bench on the wing, and Jett Howard also hopes to break into the rotation after two disappointing seasons.
The Magic signed Head Coach Jamahl Mosley to an extension last season showing confidence in their leader. “I’m excited for this group, the additions, the young guys, the old guy, the experience.” Mosley says. “The mindset that these guys have brought in all summer, I’m really excited to get going.” He wants to go faster, but will never compromise on the defensive end, where the team finished second in the NBA last season. “It’s a faster pace, but it’s a faster pace after you get the stop.” The Head Coach is one who is ready for the expectations placed on the team. “There’s nobody outside of that locker room that should have higher expectations for ourselves than us.”
With All-Star Jason Tatum gone for the season in Boston, and All-Star Tyrese Haliburton out for the year with the defending Eastern Conference Champion Indiana Pacers, the door is wide open for teams like Orlando, Cleveland, New York, and Detroit. Fans expect more, and so does the organization.
