The Orlando Magic never found their footing on the opening night of a four-game West Coast trip, falling 117-104 to the Phoenix Suns, a team that came in with just one win.
The score finished with a little more polish than the game actually had. Phoenix had stretched the lead to as many as 30, and for long stretches this one looked like the kind of night Orlando would rather forget fast.
Devin Booker made sure of that. After his 43-point burst against the Golden State Warriors, he kept rolling with 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting in 31 minutes, and 26 of those came through three quarters. He was in control from the start, finding his spots, staying comfortable against Orlando’s length and rarely looking rushed.
It was the kind of performance where the defense seemed a step late all night. Booker kept making the right read, and the Magic never really found a way to bother him.
Phoenix also got a much-needed win while leaning on a defense that has been a mess for most of the season. The Suns entered Thursday dead last in defensive rating, which would have sounded impossible if you only watched this game. Their pressure at the point of attack and their ability to create disruption showed up for most of the night, even if things loosened in the fourth quarter.
That disruption mattered because Orlando has had real trouble taking care of the ball all season, and it showed again here. The Magic turned it over 25 times, including 18 giveaways with 6:36 left in the third quarter, and those mistakes turned into 36 Phoenix points.
Still, Orlando didn’t go quietly in every area. The Magic made up ground on the glass, especially against a Suns frontcourt that featured Oso Ighadoro and Khaman Maluach. Orlando grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and turned them into 15 second-chance points, finishing plus-15 on the boards and plus-nine in second-chance points.
Wendell Carter Jr. led the way with 13 rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Franz Wagner added eight boards, and Anthony Black had seven.
Even with that edge, the free-throw line hurt Orlando badly. The Magic went just 13-for-24 and missed 11 foul shots overall, with eight of those misses coming in the first half alone. That was a tough one to survive, no matter how much they battled on the boards.
In Other News...
Suns Just Saw Why The Magic Are Already In Trouble
Orlandos rough opening to the 2026-27 season has been hard to miss, and the recent loss to the Suns only sharpened the concerns around a team trying to find its footing without Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs. The Magic have stumbled to a 2-6 start, and the issues have been familiar from night to night: too many turnovers, shaky ball control and an offense that has had trouble generating steady scoring when its top options are unavailable.
For Phoenix, the matchup offered a clear look at why the Magic are already under pressure to stabilize things quickly. The shot-making has not been there at a high enough level, especially from 3-point range, and the absence of Banchero and Suggs has left Orlando searching for answers it has not yet found. Until the Magic clean up the mistakes and get more consistent production back in the lineup, the early-season hole is only going to feel deeper. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Are Already Searching For Answers After This Brutal Start
The Suns are already tinkering with the pieces around their rough start, and the latest adjustment came before the matchup with Orlando when they swapped Khaman Maluach out of the first unit and moved Oso Ighodaro into the starting center spot. It is the kind of early-season change that signals urgency without quite tipping into panic, especially for a team still trying to settle on a workable rotation and find some stability around its core.
Jordan Ott also said rookie forward Koa Peat is close to cracking the rotation, another sign that Phoenix is looking inward for answers before reaching for something bigger. Jordan Goodwin and Rasheer Fleming are still sidelined but day-to-day, while Suns analyst Gerald Bourguet has already floated point guard trade ideas if the skid continues, though he would rather see the team exhaust its internal fixes first. [Read more 🡒]
Koa Peat Is Pressuring The Suns To Make A Rotation Decision
Koa Peat has spent the early part of his rookie season on the edge of the Suns rotation, getting into four games and seeing only limited minutes while the coaching staff sorts out where he fits. Jordan Ott has made it clear the forward is drawing attention because of his size and skill set, and that kind of profile can be hard to keep parked for long when a team is searching for reliable depth.
The Suns have leaned on their G League affiliate to help develop young players, but Peats situation has been a little more complicated because of roster availability and the desire to keep him close. For now, he remains just outside the regular mix, but the fact that he is already pushing for a larger role suggests Phoenix will have to make a real decision soon about how quickly to open the door. [Read more 🡒]