Orlando Magic season preview: Lineup, roster and prediction
· Yahoo Sports
Paolo Banchero hit an overtime game-winner in Brooklyn in January. Three months later he dropped 38 points on 14-for-25 shooting in a Game 7, and the Orlando Magic still lost by 22.
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That gap, between what Banchero can do alone and what happens when nobody else shows up, cost coach Jamahl Mosley his job.
Orlando let Mosley go in May and hired Sean Sweeney, who arrived with a defensive reputation and a mandate to fix an offense that has finished 19th or worse in efficiency three consecutive years. Then the Magic did essentially nothing else. President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said in the spring that the summer would be quiet, and it was. Nikola Vucevic came back on a minimum deal. Jonathan Isaac and Jevon Carter re-signed on minimums. Moritz Wagner left. That's the offseason.
Weltman's position is that Orlando was a top-five defensive and top-10 offensive team when healthy, and that the roster already contains everything it needs.
Here's a breakdown of the Orlando Magic's offseason moves and what to expect from them heading into the 2026-27 NBA season:
Orlando Magic offseason review
- Record last season: 45-37 (8th in Eastern Conference)
- Playoff finish: Eliminated in the first round (4-3 by Pistons)
- Coach: Sean Sweeney (first season)
- 2026-27 title odds: +8000 (per BetMGM)
- Projected record : 36-46
- Offseason grade : C-
Key roster additions
- C Nikola Vucevic (free agent signing)
- Izaiyah Nelson (trade)
Key roster losses
- F Moritz Wagner (free agency)
- G Jett Howard (trade)
Biggest question entering training camp
Can a new voice fix the shooting?
- Orlando shot 39.7% from the field across seven playoff games against the Pistons and scored 97.7 points per game in that series. Five players in the rotation were top-eight draft picks, and Banchero's 53% career effective field goal percentage is lower than every top-five pick taken since 2018 except Cooper Flagg. Sweeney inherits the best young defensive personnel in the East and a shot diet that has never once worked in a playoff game. He has one summer of tape and no new players to blame.
Projected starting lineup and rotation
Starters
- G Jalen Suggs
- G Desmond Bane
- F Franz Wagner
- F Paolo Banchero
- C Wendell Carter Jr.
Rotation players
- G Anthony Black
- G Jase Richardson
- F Tristan da Silva
- F Noah Penda
- C Goga Bitadze
- C Nikola Vucevic
What to expect in 2026-27 season
Health is the bet. Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs have each missed significant time in back-to-back seasons, and Suggs has admitted his playing style is part of why. The Suggs-Bane-Wagner-Banchero-Carter group was a plus-13.5 in 272 minutes last season, including the postseason, which is both encouraging and a reminder of how rarely they were all upright at once.
Vucevic gives Sweeney a backup center who can shoot, which Orlando badly needed and got for the minimum.
Nothing else about this team changed. The Magic are running back a 45-win roster with a rookie head coach in a conference that added two former NBA Finals MVPs during the summer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Orlando Magic season preview: Lineup, roster and prediction
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