The Orlando Magic Just Took a MASSIVE Step Forward

The Orlando Magic Just Took a MASSIVE Step Forward

everything went wrong for the Magic in 2025 five games into the season their best player seemingly poised for an allNBA campaign to oblique and would end up missing almost half the season their second best player in France Vagner would end up going on his best stretch of his career in his absence only to suffer the same injury 5 weeks later yet despite the injuries which plagued the Magic throughout the season they managed to win 41 games and by the postseason showed a resilience that almost left an impression they were one or two pieces away from contending with the best teams in the Eastern Conference we saw them take a game from the Celtics almost two despite not having a single player who shot above 35% from three at the end of the season throughout all of their growing pains the Magic were a competent team in spite of being the worst three-point shooting group since the 2012 Charlotte Bobcats a team which went 7 and 59 there’s a clear identity with this magic team that separates them from most other young squads and that their defense has been one of the very best groups in the entire NBA and the player who spearheads that and Jaylen Suggs played three games in the calendar year of 2025 and you think about the possibility of adding him back healthy with Desmond Bane replacing Contavius Cwell Pope and it’s safe to say that the Magic next season can surprise a lot of different people and so in this video we’re going to highlight just how well Desmond Bane fits into the landscape of what the Magic are trying to build and why the return they gave up for him might just be worth it when talking about the Magic there’s one thing which is equally true as good as their defense has been their offense has remained one of the NBA’s worst for a very long time and a big reason for that is partly because of their guard play with a lack of dynamic shot creation and consistent shot making from their guard spots jaylen Suggs a year and a half ago shot 39% from three-point land now of course this season he took a step back and it was a small sample size to largely two injuries even with that in mind it’s been over a decade since the Magic have had a true allstar caliber guard and moving from the west to the east Desmond Bane does have a chance to get that type of recognition now before we talk about what Bane brings to the table it’s important to kind of highlight what the Mags are giving up in a trade package which kind of blew away most NBA fans four first round picks all unprotected a future pick swap in 2029 with KCP and Cole Anthony when you talk about the picks it’s not like this is the Suns or the Bucks that have high risk potential due to the uncertainty of their future with Orlando their two best players are 22 and 23 and the majority of their cores on the right side of 25 and despite Paul and France at one point both being out the lineup when Paulo came back in they were 22 and 17 showcasing even when things are truly going wrong for this team they’re still a squad that finds a way to stay afloat and it’s for that reason that I’m not losing sleep about those future first round picks now there’s an important thing to note here one of those first round picks is in fact attached to a Suns swap right in 2026 that’s something you should take up with John Hammond and Jeff Welman not me because I would have valued that aspect quite a bit more now part of what made Bane such an appealing player to this front office I believe is what he brings to the table and what he doesn’t take away for a long time most NBA fans were clamoring for this team to get a point guard a traditional floor spacer and a tone setter someone like maybe Anthony Simons who is mince meat on switches and the halfcourt look defensively not only does that make them worse defensively but it completely changes the integrity of this team where now there’s always someone teams can exploit and hunt in the closing lineups of games it changes the way Orlando wants to beat teams with Desmond Bane sure he’s not the lightest player in his feet but at 6’5 with one of the strongest upper bodies in the game and those T-Rex arms I mean I know he’s got shorter wingspan but when talking about being he’s one of the strongest players in the game putting the opposing team’s fourth to fifth best offensive player on him on the perimeter he’s going to be more than competent and he can be a positive especially when he’s healthy not playing to Andrew but when you talk about what the newest addition brings in on the offensive end it changes the entire game bane in the last three years has taken on a larger responsibility a year ago John Morant missed nearly the entire season while this last season the offense catered less to Morant and more to their supporting stars and as a result he was taking more pull-up threes than he was off the catch while roughly making 36 to 37% over the last couple of seasons but when you talk about what he brings to Orlando a team that has two jumbosized playmakers in France and Paulo it’s safe to expect him to start taking more shots off the catch where in not one season has he shot below 40% from beyond the ark it’s kind of what KCP was supposed to bring when they sent him to a three-year deal yet he shot 30% from three up until March and now you add in Jaylen Suggs who replaces the GOAT third point guard and Cory Joseph you can’t underestimate the night and day difference between those two backwards but Bane’s not just a shooter and I think what gets misunderstood is that he’s a player with the right usage who could have an all-star caliber campaign this is somebody averaged 196 and five this last year on 60% true shooting on a loaded offensive team in transition he’s an absolute bowling ball he reminds me a little bit of Josh Hart at the full head of steam and the Magic team which I’ll always criticize them for this don’t play nearly enough in transition and have played at one of the slowest paces in the NBA but in order to play with more pace you need players who can run and open up the lanes that’s exactly what Desmond Bane does as one of the best corner shooters in the NBA but what gets me really excited is just how much Bane brings to the table in the half court offensively cuz he’s far from your traditional knockdown three-point shooter if you dare to run him off the lane in two of the last three seasons he’s made 45 and 46% of his mid-range jump shots which were ranked in the 80th and 73rd percentiles respectively for his position on top of that after Devin Booker Bane is the best playmaker for his position bottom line in the entire NBA not only averaging five and a half assists the last two seasons but showing a clear propensity to make the right decisions by generating a good amount of paint touches his playmaking does remind me a little bit of Malcolm Brogden and much like Brogden Bane’s all-around efficiency is some of the most impressive in the entire league gain a player could average 20 a night on 48 39 86 shooting is very impressive and like Brogden I believe Bane will be at his best when he’s not one of the primary graders but rather somebody who can toggle between on and off ball usage to get the best of his overall play style in the last couple of years it’s been quite clear with Paulo and France playing together the Magic have had not had the personnel to help the two of them develop and play amongst each other quite well in fact this last season this became a huge talking point for why a lot of people were pretty pessimistic about Paulo when France was on and Paulo was off albeit this was a very limited sample size the Magic posted a plus 10.2 point differential now I don’t know about you but I believe the Magic’s star wing duo is the closest thing we’ve seen to the Boston Celtics Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown except they’re two more scheme specific players due to their shooting being more raw which makes it a little bit more challenging to find the right three guys to play alongside them to close the lineup with Jaylen Suggs and Desmond Bane you immediately have two and I believe from the longest time what’s held back the two of them from maintaining some symmetry together is the fact that you haven’t had the requisite spacing for them to properly play one-on-one without seeing two or three defenders if Polo is on the ball and France is off teams will gladly leave France for an open three-point look which we saw manifest in the postseason and that’s what leads me to how well this move is going to age in the Magic it comes down to France and Paul getting better france must become a respectable three-point shooter the way he was his first two years and I’m not asking for him to hit high30s merely 35 to 36% from beyond the arc on a steady diet of open three-point looks and it’s going to come down to him breaking out the yips because he’s shown a propensity to hit shots of confidence before but mechanically it’s clear that he might need a little bit of surgery in Paulo’s case he should become a larger point of focus for this offense and I believe in adding in one more three-point shooter it makes it a little bit more plausible we could see Salo at the five playing more as a role man and punishing play finisher as far as it goes for this season the biggest X factor for this group is going to be the play of the front court mo Vagner coming off torn ACL wendell Carter having a very disappointing 2025 but showing a little bit of life at the end there and then Goku Badat has been a steady backup but is not someone you’re going to close games with on a consistent basis when I look at this Orlando group they have their three homegrown pillars in Jaylen Suggs France and Paulo and I believe Desmond Bane slots just perfectly in without taking anything off the table defensively only adding to their playmaking once again I don’t think you can overlook just how poor the supporting cast was last year and now that two of those players been massively upgraded off of one due to trade another due to injury is an encouraging sign that the Magic will see the fruits of this trade pay off with a big jump next season and I would be remiss if I didn’t shout out two players off the bench who I’m incredibly high on the first of which being Tristan Dilva someone who had a solid rookie season but didn’t have a whole lot of opportunity i liked him a lot coming out of Colorado i believe he has a better skill set as a shooter than the numbers would suggest and he could be a very good backup to France stylistically while on the other side Jonathan Isaac rounds out this front court which is one of the deepest in the entire NBA and is 16 to 20 minutes a night and to wrap a bow on this the teams which last the longest in the postseason are the ones who are filled with the most versatile complimentary players guys who don’t limit teams in any one way but have B+ skill sets everywhere down the board much like the Celtics last year and the Pacers this season with Orlando they just get one step closer to that with this move for Desen Beine and at the same time the notion that this team needs a traditional point guard to set the offense into a calm state to me is overrated the luxury of having two superersized playmakers who can play off the dribble but their skill set necessitates having that smaller guard who often times is going to take something away on the other end of the floor with Derek White and Drew Holiday you had yourself two good passers but it wasn’t like they need to run the offense because it was built to maximize Jason Tatum as their lead engine with Magic the same should be said with Paula Bonerro but the biggest concern is going to be health with Desmond Bane i would argue that’s his biggest blemish as a player and Jaylen Suggs is someone who has dealt off lower body injuries with how hard he plays night to night but regardless the Magic are poised to be one of the most improved NBA teams next season and for an offense which felt painful at times to witness it seems to be getting on track to becoming very pleasing to

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