The Orlando Magic were my preseason pick to win the East. It looks like an absolutely terrible call one week into the 2025-26 season after Orlando dropped to 1-4 following a loss to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. The Magic were the worst three-point shooting team in the NBA last season, but trading for Desmond Bane was supposed to fix that. Bane has been cold to start the season (26.9 percent from deep), and it has Orlando at the bottom of the league in three-point attempts while being No. 28 in percentage. As it’s happened, the defense has also slipped from excellent to below average.
The biggest problem in Orlando might not even be the shooting. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are the Magic’s two best players, and we now have several years of data to tell us they don’t make each other better. Wagner was a plus-minus monster with Banchero off the floor last year, but whenever they’re both playing the team just lacks the offensive rhythm to get either good looks. Both had a nice night in the box score against Detroit — 24 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists for Banchero, while Wagner had 22 points and seven rebounds — but it’s becoming clear this mix just isn’t conducive to winning games.
The Magic’s bad vibes showed up when Banchero went to the foul line in the second quarter. He started talking smack to the Pistons, seemingly directed at Tobias Harris, but he made one crucial mistake: he missed both free throws. Watch the sequence here:
I’m not a lip reader, but it looks like Banchero is telling a Pistons player that they suck. I’d advise not bricking both free throws if you’re going to do that.
Orlando currently ranks No. 26 in offense and No. 22 in defense. Yikes. This team still has no spacing around Banchero and Wagner, but that’s hard to create when you’re two best players are poor outside shooters. It’s starting to feel like the Magic could use a new voice at head coach, especially if Jamahl Mosley’s defense doesn’t bounce back soon. Everything is bad in Orlando to start the season after such high hopes coming into the year.
