The Magic’s already thin lineup took another hit Saturday at Golden State, where Desmond Bane was added to the injury report about six hours before tip-off and then ruled out with an illness.
Orlando entered the game already missing starters Paolo Banchero, who has a right high ankle sprain, and Jalen Suggs, who is dealing with a right knee bone bruise. Bane’s absence only deepened the damage for a team that had little margin for error against the Warriors inside Chase Center.
For Bane, the missed game snapped a long run of availability. He had appeared in and started all 82 regular-season games in his first year with Orlando last season, becoming one of only four players in the NBA to do that. He was also the first Magic player to start every regular-season game since Dwight Howard in 2009-10.
The illness marked the first regular-season game Bane has missed since April 13, 2025, when he was still with the Memphis Grizzlies. Between last season and the start of this one, he had played in 90 straight regular-season games.
Through Orlando’s first eight games this season, Bane was averaging 17.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 34.5 minutes per game while shooting 36.8% from 3-point range. Entering Saturday’s games, he was tied for 17th in the league in minutes per contest, according to NBA.com. Franz Wagner, who was averaging 36.1 minutes a night before Saturday, ranked fifth.
The injury list didn’t stop there for Orlando. The Magic were also without forwards Noah Penda, who has a partially torn right hamstring, Jonathan Isaac, who is in left knee injury management, and two-way rookie Izaiyah Nelson, who is recovering from a left ankle injury.
With those absences, coach Sean Sweeney had only nine standard contract players available, plus a pair of two-way players, against a Warriors team that came in riding a six-game winning streak.
Orlando still has an open standard contract roster spot, but president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said at media day on Sept. 28 that there were no immediate plans to fill it, citing the team’s limited financial flexibility.
The road trip continues for the Magic on Tuesday night at Sacramento in the first half of a back-to-back. They’ll head to Utah the next night before returning to Kia Center to face the Bucks in NBA Cup action on Friday.
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