The Sean Sweeney era in Orlando has opened with more frustration than momentum.
The Magic fell for the third straight time Thursday night, dropping a 117-104 decision to the Phoenix Suns. Wendell Carter Jr. did his part with 27 points, but Orlando still slipped to 2-6 on the season, a rough early stretch for a team that came in with playoff hopes.
The good news for the Magic is that the season is still young. The bad news is that the problems showing up now are the kind that can snowball fast if they don’t get cleaned up.
Injuries have been the biggest hit to Orlando’s start. Paolo Banchero’s absence changes everything.
After pouring in 35 points in the opener, he’s been sidelined with a sprained ankle, and the Magic have felt the loss of their best scorer and most reliable creator. They haven’t had a 30-point scorer since that night against Atlanta, and it took 28 points from Desmond Bane to get past the Raptors last week.
Banchero was given a four-to-six week timeline, so Orlando may be dealing with this version of the roster for a while longer. Jalen Suggs is also out, which leaves the Magic without an important presence on both ends.
That has put even more pressure on Franz Wagner and Bane. Wagner, though, has struggled to find his rhythm, shooting 41.9% from the floor and needing to become a more efficient three-level scorer.
Bane has to carry more of the offensive load, too.
The turnover problem has only made things harder. Before Thursday’s game, Orlando was already averaging the sixth-most turnovers per game in the league, a place the Magic never expected to be.
Against a Suns team that entered with just one win, they added 25 more. Wagner had six turnovers, even while handing out 15 assists, and Anthony Black committed five more.
With Banchero and Suggs out, the margin for error is tiny. That makes ball security even more important, especially with Wagner serving as the main offensive engine. Sweeney’s team has to get a lot cleaner if it wants to dig out of this hole.
Then there’s the shooting, which remains a familiar issue. The Magic still aren’t stretching defenses enough from 3-point range, and that has been a recurring problem for years. Desmond Bane has helped, hitting 3.6 threes per game, but the rest of the roster is making just 9.5 per game.
Orlando came into Thursday averaging 13.1 made threes per game, right around the middle of the NBA, but it shot 13-for-38 from deep against Phoenix. The pattern has been pretty clear: in Orlando’s two wins, the team shot better than 40% from 3-point range. Without Banchero creating offense, that kind of efficiency matters even more.
The Magic need Bane getting open looks and Wagner finding better shots. Right now, with Wagner at 20% from 3-point range, Orlando just isn’t threatening defenses enough from the perimeter. His passing has helped, but the missed shots are dragging down an offense that can’t afford many empty possessions.
In Other News...
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 🡒]
Devin Booker Looked Like Himself In A Suns Win That Solved Nothing
Devin Booker looked like himself again in a Suns win that at least offered a familiar sight in an uneven start to the season. Phoenix beat the Orlando Magic 117-104 on the final stop of Orlandos four-game West Coast trip, with Booker leading the way with 28 points, eight assists and three steals while shooting 50 percent from the field.
Even so, the result did not exactly answer every question around this team. Orlandos 25 turnovers gave Phoenix plenty of easy offense, but the Magic also controlled the glass with 15 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points, a reminder that the Suns still have issues to sort through even when Booker is carrying the scoring load. [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 🡒]