The Athletic: Orlando Magic have something to prove heading into SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament

Editor’s Note: Read more NBA coverage from The Athletic here. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams.

* * *

Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley has worked for 20 years in the NBA, and in all that time, he’s never experienced a season quite like the one that Magic players, coaches and staff members just endured.

Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs all suffered significant injuries during the season, limiting them to only six games together for a not-so-grand total of 97 minutes before Suggs sustained yet another injury, a season-ending cartilage tear that required surgery. Moe Wagner, who had emerged as a potential Sixth Man of the Year candidate, tore a knee ligament in mid-December, ending his season prematurely, too.

“A very strange season,” Mosley said. “I think that’s the best way to describe it. The injuries to start off the year changed the way in which you approach things, the way in which you have to dissect things. Ultimately, the only way I can describe it is it feels like seven seasons in one.

“And why I say that is because you have Paolo going down; you have to adjust there. Franz going down; you have to adjust there. Jalen going down; you adjust there. Moe going down; adjust there. And then the unknown of when guys are coming back, when they’re not coming back — all of those things played a part into how you have to address the team, approach the team, the day to day. I think those are all different aspects when you have guys in and out of lineups, especially such big pieces to what you’re doing.”

Now begins another distinct part of their year.

On Tuesday night, the Magic (41-41) will host the Atlanta Hawks (40-42) in the opening Eastern Conference Play-In game. The winning team will face the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics in the first round. The losing team will have one last chance to reach the playoffs, a game Friday night against the winner of the Play-In game between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat.

Magic players, of course, would be happy to advance to the first round. But they expected more from themselves this season than having to eke into the playoffs through the Play-In.

After all, last year, they secured the East’s fifth seed after a 47-win season and nearly upset the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round, pushing the Cavs to seven games.

“Obviously, we were on an upwards trajectory, and I think this year was really the first year we had a little bit of pressure and maybe not everything went the way we thought it would before the year,” Wagner said. “But I think that’s part of progress as well. So, obviously, injuries were a big part of our struggles this year and … I think the biggest thing is that we stuck together, and hopefully it can help us in the coming years.”

TRAE.

PAOLO. East #7 is on the line as the Magic host the Hawks in the #SoFiPlayIn 🔥 📺 Tuesday, 4/15 | 7:30pm/et | TNT pic.twitter.com/28LWoRS5lp — NBA (@NBA) April 14, 2025

More adversity likely will hit as early as Tuesday’s Play-In game. The Hawks have proven they can match up well against the Magic this season. On Feb. 10, the Hawks won in Orlando, 112-106, despite 37 points from Wagner and 31 more from Banchero. Although the Magic won the next two meetings between the teams, those were close matchups; last Wednesday, the Magic defeated the Hawks, 119-112, at Kia Center, in a hard-fought, back-and-forth game that featured seven lead changes and seven ties.

The Magic’s Achilles’ heel this season (apart from their injuries, that is) has been their shooting, even though it’s improved in recent weeks. Orlando finished the regular season 27th in offensive rating, last in 3-point percentage and last in 3-point makes.

In last week’s victory over the Hawks, the Magic made 14 of their 34 attempts (41 percent) from deep, an unusually high accuracy rate for them.

But can they count on their shot-making in a pressure game, the kind of pressure that Play-In games and playoff games create?

That’s the essential question they face — and one that will remain unanswered until they actually do it. In last year’s playoff series loss to the Cavs, the Magic made only 33 percent of their 3-point attempts as the Cavs opted to pack the paint and dare the Magic to beat them with long-range shooting.

Last offseason, the Magic signed free-agent wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a three-year, $66 million contract, hoping that Caldwell-Pope would knock down open shots and provide spacing that would help create driving lanes for Banchero and Wagner.

Caldwell-Pope had been a disappointment on offense for most of the season, making only 31 percent of his 3s before the All-Star break. Since the break, with a bit more rest, he’s made 44 percent of his attempts on 3.5 attempts per game.

In last week’s win over Atlanta, Caldwell-Pope scored 15 points on the strength of 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. “When he’s knocking down shots, it opens everything up,” Banchero said. “Everyone just tells him to keep letting it fly, but he doesn’t really need to hear that. He’s a two-time champ. He’s a vet. So, he doesn’t need really anybody giving him a pep talk. He knew all along that eventually the seal (over the basket) was going to break and his shots were going to start to fall.”

Of course, it would be unfair to pin Orlando’s offensive woes on Caldwell-Pope. The truth is, most of his teammates have struggled with their shooting, too.

That adds intrigue to Tuesday night’s Play-In game.

When Atlanta goes on a run, as it almost surely will with Trae Young guiding the Hawks’ offense, can Orlando respond?

“A do-or-die game, basically,” Wagner said. “I think those are always fun.”

Josh Robbins is a senior writer for The Athletic. He began covering the Washington Wizards in 2021 after spending more than a decade on the Orlando Magic beat for The Athletic and the Orlando Sentinel, where he worked for 18 years. His work has been honored by the Football Writers Association of America, the Green Eyeshade Awards and the Florida Society of News Editors. He served as president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association from 2014 to 2023. Josh is a native of the greater Washington, D.C., area. Follow Josh on Twitter @JoshuaBRobbins

Click here to read article