Paolo Banchero wasted little time making his point in Orlando’s first home preseason game. He finished with 24 points, and the Magic used that production - along with Franz Wagner’s 20 - to roll past the Cleveland Cavaliers 132-116 and answer a sloppy loss to the same opponent earlier in the week.
Banchero was efficient from the start, shooting 10-of-13 while adding eight rebounds and three assists. It was the kind of all-around line that can fuel the belief that he’s ready to climb another rung toward superstardom in Orlando this season.
The game also showed how dangerous the Magic can look when their top two options are in sync. Banchero and Wagner combined for the first 17 points of the night, a stretch that underlined the chemistry Orlando has been building. Afterward, Banchero said staying aggressive and finding each other is a big part of what they want to keep doing.
He also pointed to the broader team performance as a reason the bounce-back win came together. Banchero praised the ball movement, pace and defensive effort, saying Orlando played aggressively on both ends, contested Cleveland’s shots and made it difficult for the Cavaliers to get easy looks.
Having the starters back together mattered, too. Banchero said the group’s physicality and ability to move the ball helped the offense flow, and he noted that the starting five ran its sets with pace and found a good rhythm.
There’s been a growing comfort level with the new offense as well. Banchero said the team has made progress after spending plenty of time together in the gym since the beginning of September. The work has helped the players learn how to read defenses, adjust when opponents take away the first option and keep generating quality shots even when the initial look disappears.
Wagner’s return has fit neatly into that process. Banchero said Wagner is simply playing the way he always has, with the same aggressiveness and pressure on both ends that make him such a valuable two-way presence. He stressed the importance of Wagner staying true to his game.
Banchero also credited the coaching staff for building an offense that keeps all five players involved and makes everyone a threat, with or without the ball. In his view, that structure has kept the group engaged and made it easier for players to recognize their chances and attack them.
In Other News...
Magic Fans Have A Front-Row Look At A Possible NBA Shift
The leagues next wave of practice technology is already starting to take shape, and Orlando has a front-row view of it. The Cavaliers have partnered with ASB GlassFloor on a full-LED glass basketball court for their future practice facility, a setup designed to let coaches and players see plays, shot charts and live performance data right on the floor itself. The NBAs backing of ASB makes the concept feel less like a novelty and more like a coming standard, especially with the same technology already available at the Athletes Lab in Orlando.
For the Magic, it adds another layer to a city that has quietly become part of the leagues innovation map. The Orlando connection matters because teams can already experience the system there, and the idea of opponents getting familiar with that environment only raises the intrigue around how training, scouting and in-game preparation could evolve. It is still early in the rollout, but the direction is clear enough: the floor itself may soon become another screen. [Read more 🡒]
Paolo And Franz Are Reaching A Defining Moment In Orlando
The Magics young core is entering a pivotal stretch, and the conversation around Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner has shifted from upside to fit. Injuries and uneven stretches have slowed the teams momentum, and the external view has cooled as well, with both players sliding in recent player rankings. Still, there are signs that Orlandos reset under new head coach Sean Sweeney is already nudging the roster in a different direction, with preseason work hinting at cleaner role definition and a quicker pace.
For a team built around two high-end young forwards, the next step is less about talent than how all the pieces actually work together night to night. Wagner and Banchero remain the franchises foundation, but the pressure now is on Orlando to turn promise into something more sustainable, especially after a year in which their growth came with plenty of interruptions. The early returns under Sweeney do not answer every question, but they do make this a fascinating moment for a team trying to find out what its core looks like when the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Magic Have A Real Chance To Smash Their Recent Ceiling
Orlando has spent the last couple of seasons hovering just below the level it expected to reach, with back-to-back play-in trips leaving the franchise with a familiar sense of unfinished business. The talent is there, though, and the conversation around this team has shifted from whether it can climb out of the middle to how high it can push in the East if Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner keep developing and the roster stays healthy.
Sean Sweeneys arrival adds another layer to that equation, because the Magics next step is going to require more than just growth from its core. A cleaner offense and better 3-point shooting have become the obvious pressure points, and if those areas come around, Orlando has a real chance to move beyond its recent ceiling and force a much more favorable seeding conversation in the conference. [Read more 🡒]