The Orlando Magic are heading into the 2026-27 season with a starting five that looks a lot like the one fans already know. In a conference that keeps shifting around them, Orlando is staying put - not because there was no interest in change, but because the team never had enough time to build real chemistry and didn’t have a clear enough reason to chase an impulsive move.
So the message is simple: this group is running it back. And with that comes a pretty direct question for each starter - what do the Magic need most from him?
For Jalen Suggs, the answer is consistency on offense. The energy and defensive edge are never really in doubt.
He brings the kind of point-of-attack pressure that changes possessions. But the Detroit Pistons series exposed the rough edges, with Suggs averaging just 11.1 points while shooting 29.9 percent from the field and 24.1 percent from 3-point range.
Health matters, of course, but that’s the obvious part. The bigger ask is for him to become steadier as both a jump shooter and a decision-maker.
Desmond Bane, meanwhile, gave Orlando pretty much everything it could have hoped for in 2025-26 and then some. He started all 82 games and put up 20.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists per night while shooting 48.4 percent overall, which matched a career high, and 39.1 percent from deep.
Bane also kept doing what he’s always done from long range, extending his streak of six straight seasons above 38 percent from 3. He was one of the team’s best slashers too, using that compact 6-foot-5 frame and quick burst to stress defenses.
The only real dip came at the rim, where his 61.9 rim efficiency was his lowest since 2022-23 and the third-lowest mark of his career, even if some of that can be tied to spacing and chemistry issues.
Franz Wagner’s biggest need is easier to identify: get healthy, and get the jumper right. He missed nearly 50 games with a nagging ankle injury, and his 3-point shooting needs to return to the level he showed over his first two seasons.
From 2021-23, Wagner hit 35.8 percent from deep on four attempts per game. Last season, over 34 games, that number dropped to 28.9 percent on 5.2 attempts.
The hitch at the top of his release is still the problem. His base is solid, but the follow-through doesn’t flow cleanly, and that messes with his touch and accuracy.
Paolo Banchero had a strange statistical season: career highs in effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage, but also the worst pull-up jump shooting numbers in the NBA. Among 88 players who attempted at least 200 pull-up jumpers, his 34.0 effective field goal percentage ranked last.
Banchero did make a clear effort to get closer to the basket and trim the long 2s from his diet. His 36.0 rim frequency was a career high, while his 11.0 long 2 frequency from beyond roughly 14 feet was a career low.
Even so, he still ranked in the 87th percentile among forwards in long 2 frequency and the 58th percentile in long 2 efficiency. He also landed in the 36th percentile in short 2 efficiency, the 10th percentile in above-the-break 3-point shooting and the 27th percentile in corner 3-point shooting, according to CTG.
If Sean Sweeney can sharpen Banchero’s on-ball decision-making, the efficiency should follow.
Then there’s Wendell Carter Jr., who doesn’t need to dominate the ball to matter. He’s not flashy, but he does all the stuff teams win with: screening, boxing out, positioning on defense, battling for offensive boards and chasing loose balls.
He may not be a perfect center, but Orlando needs a big who embraces the grunt work, and Carter has done that for five-and-a-half years. At 27, he understands his role and rarely tries to force more than what the team asks of him.
In Other News...
Anthony Black Just Raised The Stakes For Orlandos Future
Anthony Blacks breakout 2026 season did more than give the Magic another young guard to build around. It showed a player who played with far more force, turned into a more efficient scorer and became much tougher to keep out of the lane. Blacks work around the rim stood out most, and the gains did not happen by accident, with assistant coach God Shamgod helping sharpen his ball-handling and finishing along the way.
For Orlando, that kind of progress changes the conversation fast. Black has put himself in position for a significant contract extension, the kind of next-step deal that reflects both his production and the belief that there is still more room to grow. The exact framework is still unsettled, but the stakes are obvious now: a promising young piece has forced the Magic to think bigger about what his future is worth. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Suggs Is Giving Magic Fans Another Reason To Believe
Jalen Suggs is adding another line to a rsum that already keeps Orlando fans interested, this time far from the practice court in Florida. The Magic guard will serve as a coach at the inaugural Basketball Without Borders Next Up camp in Istanbul from Aug. 26-29, where hell work with 80 of the top male high school prospects in the programs new format, one that blends skill development with competition.
For a team looking to keep building around its young core, it is another reminder of how much development still matters in Orlando. The same conversation naturally circles back to Paolo Banchero and the arrival of new head coach Sean Sweeney, with the franchise hoping those pieces help push the next step after Bancheros uneven but promising season and the challenges that came with it. [Read more 🡒]