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The Orlando Magic are looking to take the next step in the upcoming season, but it will not be easy.
The current free agency period has given way to significant movement in the Eastern Conference that has only strengthened it. Moves such as LeBron James to the Philadelphia 76ers, Jaylen Brown to the 76ers and Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat have headlined a massive offseason for the conference.
Therefore, the Magic have their work cut out for them, and they are hoping to achieve better results with largely the same group. The question is, can they make legitimate progress?
Recently, I went on the Full Court Magic Podcast to push back against an idea presented by Law Murray of The Athletic that Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner might be on their last chance to win together. Instead, is there a chance that Jalen Suggs might be the odd man out?
Suggs brings value to the court, but there is reason to believe that he could be a movable asset if the Magic have an underwhelming season. I also touched on this:
"If anything, I think it's more realistic that the Magic could move off Jalen Suggs, because Suggs, you know, he has a depreciating contract. That playoff series for him against Detroit last season was just an absolute nightmare. Only averaged 11.1 points, shot sub-30% from the field and sub-25% from three. I believe it was 29% and 24.4% respectively in those metrics, you know, and there's kind of a bottleneck in that backcourt with him and Desmond Bane. Neither one are really true point guards, right?
Obviously, Suggs is the better defender, but Bane is the better offensive player, and so I really think that if there was a move to be made to break up this anyway, it would be Jalen Suggs, you know, and it's tough to get ahead of ourselves when the 2026-27 season hasn't even played out yet. We know it's going to be more difficult.
We know this Eastern Conference landscape is going to be lethal, but I just don't agree with the notion that Wagner or Banchero would be the first out the door if the Magic have another underwhelming campaign. I think that given the nature of how this organization works, there is going to be a chance for Sean Sweeney to do what he needs to do, and barring any catastrophes, once again, I just don't see any of those two guys going. I believe it would be someone like Jalen Suggs first, maybe a Wendell Carter Jr."
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The current free agency period has given way to significant movement in the Eastern Conference that has only strengthened it. Moves such as LeBron James to the Philadelphia 76ers, Jaylen Brown to the 76ers and Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat have headlined a massive offseason for the conference.
Therefore, the Magic have their work cut out for them, and they are hoping to achieve better results with largely the same group. The question is, can they make legitimate progress?
Recently, I went on the Full Court Magic Podcast to push back against an idea presented by Law Murray of The Athletic that Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner might be on their last chance to win together. Instead, is there a chance that Jalen Suggs might be the odd man out?
Suggs brings value to the court, but there is reason to believe that he could be a movable asset if the Magic have an underwhelming season. I also touched on this:
"If anything, I think it's more realistic that the Magic could move off Jalen Suggs, because Suggs, you know, he has a depreciating contract. That playoff series for him against Detroit last season was just an absolute nightmare. Only averaged 11.1 points, shot sub-30% from the field and sub-25% from three. I believe it was 29% and 24.4% respectively in those metrics, you know, and there's kind of a bottleneck in that backcourt with him and Desmond Bane. Neither one are really true point guards, right?
Obviously, Suggs is the better defender, but Bane is the better offensive player, and so I really think that if there was a move to be made to break up this anyway, it would be Jalen Suggs, you know, and it's tough to get ahead of ourselves when the 2026-27 season hasn't even played out yet. We know it's going to be more difficult.
We know this Eastern Conference landscape is going to be lethal, but I just don't agree with the notion that Wagner or Banchero would be the first out the door if the Magic have another underwhelming campaign. I think that given the nature of how this organization works, there is going to be a chance for Sean Sweeney to do what he needs to do, and barring any catastrophes, once again, I just don't see any of those two guys going. I believe it would be someone like Jalen Suggs first, maybe a Wendell Carter Jr."
Continue reading...
