The Orlando Magic aren’t pretending their 3-point issues don’t exist. They’re meeting them head-on.
That’s the clearest change around this team early in the season: more pace, more spacing, and a much louder green light from deep. Under Sean Sweeney, Orlando has made a noticeable shift in how it wants to play, and the first three games have reflected it.
The Magic are launching 40.3 threes per game, good for eighth in the league, even though the percentage has only climbed to 32.2 percent, which ranks 20th. The volume is there.
The efficiency still isn’t.
That’s been the franchise’s old trap for years. Orlando has not finished in the top half of the league in 3-point field goal percentage since its 11th-place peak in 2019, and even that was an outlier. Outside of two seasons spent 16th, the Magic had not been top 10 since Dwight Howard’s last year in 2012.
So this is where the franchise lives now: trying to build offensive consistency around the one area that has hurt it most. The season-ending collapse against the same weakness was impossible to ignore, with the Magic missing 22 straight shots in Game 6 and going 2-for-18 from three in the second half.
The opening sample is tiny, but the early numbers suggest Orlando is at least changing the shape of the problem. Last season, the Magic ranked 22nd in 3-point attempts at 34.1 per game, 27th in percentage at 34.3 percent and 24th in makes at 11.7. This year, with a little more willingness to let it fly, they are up to 13.0 makes per game and 15th in the league in that category.
Desmond Bane and Tristan da Silva have both stepped into high-volume roles from deep, taking 9.3 and 8.7 attempts per game, respectively. That’s part of the new look, and it’s part of the bet Orlando is making: if the team can generate enough good looks, the math should eventually even out.
The encouraging part isn’t just how often the Magic are shooting. It’s where those shots are coming from.
Through three games, Orlando is taking 20.3 wide-open threes per game, according to NBA.com tracking data, which ranks seventh in the league. The team is making 36.1 percent of those attempts, placing it 16th. Last season, the Magic averaged 18.4 wide-open threes per game and made 36.8 percent of them.
Orlando is also taking more “open” threes, with the closest defender four to six feet away. The Magic are sixth in the league at 16.7 attempts per game in that category, though they’re converting just 32.0 percent, which ranks 17th. A year ago, they took only 12.9 of those shots per game, ranking 24th, and hit 32.3 percent, which was 28th.
There’s still plenty of runway left, and the early results have swung all over the place. The Magic opened the season by going 13-for-40 from deep in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks, including 1-for-12 in the fourth quarter.
They were only 5-for-17 on wide-open threes in that game. Then came the 8-for-39 night against the Minnesota Timberwolves, including 2-for-14 in the third quarter as Minnesota pulled away.
Orlando was 7-for-24 on wide-open threes in that one and 1-for-5 in the third.
That’s the risk with this approach. If the threes don’t go in, the offense can get stuck in the mud.
"Get to our spots quicker so we can continue to drive, create lanes for each other, continue to make the right kick-outs and we'll get the shots like we did tonight," Jalen Suggs said after Friday's loss. "Shoot them with confidence and trust in the fact that they are going to go in.
That's the game. Tonight we shot 20.
Throughout the whole preseason, all through camp and even the first game, we shot it really well. That's just playing basketball."
Before Sunday’s win, Sean Sweeney said he liked the looks his team had, though he said Orlando needed to get into the paint more, especially with Paolo Banchero out. The response came against the New York Knicks, when the Magic made 18 of 42 from three and hit 10 of 20 wide-open attempts.
That’s the blueprint Orlando is chasing now: keep creating the looks, keep taking them, and trust that the makes will follow. The Magic are not built to survive on the 3-pointer alone. But they also aren’t shying away from the shot anymore.
In Other News...
Magic Suddenly Face An Early Test They Didn't Expect
The first week of the NBA season gave Orlando a little of everything, and not all of it was welcome. A 1-2 start is hardly a disaster in October, but the Magic already had to deal with losses to Atlanta and Minnesota before steadying things with a win over the Knicks, all while trying to sort through an early lineup that has already been altered by injuries to starters.
Franz Wagner and Anthony Black helped provide some relief in New York, giving the team a glimpse of the depth it may need sooner than expected. Wagner caught fire late, and Blacks bench production stood out, but the bigger issue now is how Orlando manages the bigger-picture strain of losing key rotation pieces this early and whether the roster can keep its footing while the team waits for better health. [Read more 🡒]
Franz Wagner Suddenly Feels Crucial To Orlando's Rough Start
The Magic have only three games into the season, but the early shape of the roster has already changed. Orlando is 1-2 and in the middle of a three-game road trip, with Paolo Banchero emerging as the teams most productive player before a high ankle sprain changed the immediate outlook. That leaves a familiar question for this group, where the margin for error is thin and the offense can look stagnant when its primary option is unavailable.
Franz Wagner has been the steady piece through the opening stretch, the one player who has shown up across the box score and kept Orlando moving. He has quietly filled a role that goes beyond scoring, giving the Magic production on the glass and as a creator while the lineup sorts itself out. With Banchero sidelined, Wagners importance only grows, and the early test for Orlando is whether that consistency can help hold the team together before the road trip gets any longer. [Read more 🡒]
Magic Suddenly Have A Ty Jerome Question Worth Watching
Ty Jeromes fast start in Memphis has turned him into one of the more interesting names to monitor around the league, and that matters in Orlando because the Magic have already been circling the same kind of guard help. Through four games, Jerome has looked like a player whose scoring and playmaking can tilt an offense, which is part of why NBA insider Marc Stein said the Grizzlies could be open to moving him as they shift more of their attention toward younger building blocks.
Orlandos interest is easy to understand from a roster-fit standpoint, even if nothing is close to done. The Magic have been mentioned in possible trade chatter alongside other teams, and any conversation about Jerome naturally leads to the same question: whether a deal can be constructed that makes sense for both sides if Memphis decides it is serious about retooling. For now, it is just another name on a growing list of guards worth watching as the season develops. [Read more 🡒]