For all the buzz around Orlando’s rise, the Magic’s two biggest names have still been searching for the kind of leap that changes how the league sees them.
Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero were supposed to be the faces of this new stretch of Magic basketball, the pair that would carry Orlando beyond the years of middle-of-the-pack drifting. Banchero arrived as the No. 1 overall pick in 2022, Wagner went No. 8 in 2021, and together they became the foundation for a team that had finally started to feel like it was turning a corner.
That corner has been harder to round than expected. Orlando won 47 games three seasons ago, then landed in the play-in the last two seasons and got knocked out in the first round each of the last three years.
Wagner’s health has been a major issue - he has missed 70 games over the last two seasons - and the duo has not always found a clean fit together. Jalen Suggs, taken three spots ahead of Wagner in 2021, has added another layer of inconsistency with his own uneven health and production.
That lack of a true breakout has shown up in the league’s player rankings. In CBS Sports’ recent top-100, both Magic co-stars landed outside the top 40, with Wagner at No. 44 and Banchero at No. 45.
“The 2026-27 campaign feels hugely important for Wagner, Paolo Banchero and the Magic. Injuries have derailed the last two years, and the progress they showed as one of the league's most exciting young duos has stalled,” CBS Sports' Robby Kalland wrote.
“There's still a question of whether they can coexist offensively given neither is a legitimate 3-point threat -- although Wagner showed some improvement last year -- and this season might be a make-or-break season for that duo in Orlando.”
It’s a sharp drop from where both stood a year ago. In last season’s CBS Sports top-100, Banchero checked in at No. 18 and Wagner at No.
- This time around, players like Deni Avdija, Cooper Flagg and Scottie Barnes moved ahead of them, while Orlando’s duo slid after seasons defined by regression and missed time.
Even so, the talent level has never been in doubt. Some people will tell you Banchero is the better player; others will go with Wagner.
Banchero has the No. 1 pedigree, but the two bring different strengths that can still fit together if the setup is right. One has to be the 1A, the other the 1B, and Orlando has spent the last few years trying to turn that idea into something more consistent.
The Magic are trying a new voice to make that happen. Head coach Sean Sweeney has brought a different approach, and the early signs in preseason have been positive.
Banchero has been used more as a screener and in a better off-ball role, while Wagner has handled shot creation with a steadier hand. The ball is moving, the players are moving, and the quicker tempo has created more space to attack.
That’s a promising start. But the real answer won’t come in October. It will come over the 82-game grind, and then, if Orlando gets there, in the postseason.
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 Giving Magic Fans A Real Reason To Believe
The first home preseason game at Kia Center offered a clean look at why Orlandos optimism has felt so different this fall. The Magic handled Cleveland 132-116, with Paolo Banchero setting the tone with 24 points and Franz Wagner adding 20, a pairing that once again looked like the center of everything the team wants to do. Banchero pointed to the way the group is moving together and the way the starting five is sharing the load, while Wagners two-way impact stood out in a game that had plenty of scoring but still felt organized on Orlandos end.
What makes this stretch more interesting is how naturally the offense seems to be fitting around those two. Banchero talked about the improved chemistry and the new system giving the Magic more balance, with all five players involved and dangerous in their own ways. For a team trying to take the next step, that kind of connectivity matters as much as the box score, and Orlando is starting to look like a group that believes it has real answers on both sides of the floor. [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 🡒]