It’s always fun to watch upstart teams. They are young, talented, eager, and play with a lot of passion. There’s also a different sense of excitement since you’re witnessing a new core of guys, far from the usual contenders you’re seeing time and time again.
Among the current list of NBA upstarts are the Orlando Magic. They are the fourth youngest team in the league with an average age 25.1, and fresh-off a promising season that saw them reach the playoffs, where they were a win away from the conference semifinals.
Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Wendell Carter Jr., Cole Anthony, Anthony Black, Mo Wagner, Jett Howard, and veteran Gary Harris make up the core, an intriguing collection that spans the various facets of the game. It got extra interesting in the off-season with the signing of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a veteran ‘3 and D’ role player that has two championships under his belt (Lakers in 2020, Nuggets in 2023).

As such, many eyeballs are now glued on the Magic, particularly how fast they harness their potential, or if they can take another step forward at all?
The burden mainly rests on the key guys: Banchero, the leading scorer and 2024 All-Star, Wagner, the no. 2 scorer, and Suggs, the 2024 All-Defensive team member, though obviously, it’s primarily on the franchise cornerstone.
As the 2022 top overall pick of a ballclub stuck in mediocrity, if not futility, there was a huge challenge dropped on Banchero, and as advertised coming out of Duke University, he’s been grinding ever since.
The 22-year-old, third-year pro posted over 20 points and close to seven rebounds per game in each of his first two seasons. There was a visible improvement in his facilitation in his second year as he netted 5.4 assists per outing, a really solid number for a tweener forward.
Banchero also did well in the Magic’s 2024-25 debut on Thursday as he helped guide the team to a commanding 116-97 win over the Miami Heat. The All-Star tallied a healthy double-double of 33 points and 11 rebounds, and also had a complete line with three assists, one steal, and one block, as well as four three-pointers – very telling of his massive +42 plus-minus.
With his athleticism, scoring, and takeover abilities very likely to develop further, the more important task as they move ahead is the progression as a leader, one that can perhaps make Wagner look like a borderline All-Star, or any of his younger teammates more respected as offensive weapons.
The flipside of that, of course, is the rest would have to prove that they can be a better supporting cast and hopefully help him reach his full potential. While Banchero went for 34.7 PPG in the final three games of their 2024 first-round series with the Cleveland Cavaliers, including 38 in Game 7, Wagner and Suggs, in particular, were hot-and-cold. The two shot a combined 3-of-28 in a win-or-go-home situation. It’s tough to survive with that type of help.
But, yeah, if this team is as good and motivated as they really look, they’ll use that as fuel to go back in the playoffs and have a deeper run.
