There isn’t much basketball noise out there right now, which is exactly why the Orlando Magic’s impatience stands out. With free agency mostly wrapped and training camp still two months away, a lot of the league is in vacation mode. The Magic, though, sound ready to get back to work.
Anthony Black put it plainly on July 27, 2026: “can’t wait to play basketball”
Noah Penda jumped in with a quote tweet, and the Magic followed that same energy by using their social media to open a thread of highlights from last season. That’s where the team is right now - restless, eager, and clearly counting the days until Sept. 28, when media day and training camp begin.
The urgency makes sense. Orlando no longer has the buzz of a young team on the rise after a third straight first-round exit, and the outside conversation has cooled.
The league isn’t spending much time on the Magic these days. Inside the building, though, the feeling is different.
There’s a real hunger to put last season behind them and show that this group still has something bigger in it.
Paolo Banchero seems to be carrying a lot of that edge. After the Game 7 loss, he appeared to send a message that the team should not be content with just making the playoffs. He wants more, and he carries himself like a player who believes he belongs among the league’s elite.
The criticism around him has only gotten louder. On Wednesday, he posted on his secondary Instagram account’s story after sharing an extended rant from a content creator who took aim at Banchero for working out with Kevin Durant instead of LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony and for working on his jumper. Banchero has heard plenty of the noise about his advanced stats, too, and he’s become an easy target for people who see him as an “empty calories stat hoarder.”
That label doesn’t seem to bother him nearly as much as the bigger picture. Banchero wants to be more, and the Magic need him to be more.
Last season, Orlando went 26-25 in the 51 games Franz Wagner missed, and that number has become a major point of scrutiny for Banchero. If he’s looking for motivation, it’s everywhere.
The same goes for the rest of the roster, especially after last season’s 45-win, 8-seed finish did little to raise expectations outside the team. A year ago, the Magic were getting plenty of hype after adding Desmond Bane, and some people were already projecting them into the conference finals. Jamahl Mosley pushed back on that during training camp, saying the team’s internal expectations were higher than anything being said outside the building.
This summer has flipped that script. The Magic haven’t made major changes to the lineup, and the league’s projections have backed off.
Most outside observers are treating Orlando like a team that should get back to the Play-In Tournament and prove it can climb from there. The Magic seem perfectly aware of that.
Wendell Carter’s “I respect it” comment about LeBron James signing with the Philadelphia 76ers drew some short-lived online heat, but it also fit the mood around this group. Carter, who is spending much of the summer in Atlanta, where he held his own basketball camp and where his good friend Angel Reese plays, seemed to view the move as another challenge in the East. That kind of response says a lot about where Orlando’s mindset is.
For now, the players are scattered and handling their own offseason work. Franz Wagner wrapped up his basketball camp in Berlin. Others are splitting time between development, passion projects and whatever vacation they can squeeze in before trickling back to Orlando around Labor Day.
But the message coming from the Magic is hard to miss. They’re tired of waiting, tired of the talk, and ready to get on the floor and answer for last season the only way that matters.
In Other News...
Sean Sweeney Faces A Lineup Call Magic Fans Have Debated For Years
Sean Sweeneys first major lineup decision in Orlando is already drawing the kind of debate that tends to follow this team into a new season. With a new head coach in place, the Magic are weighing whether the opening five should stay intact or be adjusted to better balance defense, offense and playmaking around Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane.
The discussion has naturally centered on the backcourt and the way the group looked late in the postseason, when injuries and uneven efficiency made every possession feel magnified. Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva are among the options the staff can consider if it decides the current mix needs a different look, and the choice could say plenty about how Sweeney wants this roster to function from opening night onward. [Read more 🡒]
Jason Williams Just Hit The Sixers With A Brutal Reality Check
Jason Williams is not buying the idea that Philadelphias offseason moves automatically make the 76ers a top-tier threat in the East. Looking ahead to the 2026-27 season, he pointed to the Knicks, Heat and Magic as teams he expects to finish ahead of them, with his skepticism rooted in the same familiar issues that have tripped up plenty of talented rosters before: defense and rebounding.
For Orlando, the takeaway is less about what the Sixers added and more about what still has to be proven. LeBron James may have seen Philadelphia as the best path to winning when he chose them, but Williams comments serve as a reminder that belief and projection are different things, especially in a conference where the Magic will be trying to keep climbing while the Sixers try to convince everyone they belong in that upper tier. [Read more 🡒]
The Magic Still Have One Big Shooting Problem To Solve
The Magic have spent the past few seasons living near the bottom of the league in 3-point shooting, even as the offense as a whole has inched forward. That gap has kept them from looking like a finished product, because better shot-making from the perimeter would change the way opponents can load up on Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner and would make the rest of the roster fit more naturally around them.
Sean Sweeney is the biggest offseason addition, and there is at least some belief that his system can help the Magic get cleaner looks and a better shot profile. The question is whether that alone is enough for a team that still has to prove its perimeter volume and consistency can hold up over a full season, especially when so much of the burden falls on players who have not yet made shooting a dependable strength. [Read more 🡒]