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Ohm Youngmisuk
ORLANDO, Fla. — Franz Wagner had the ball in his hands and his eyes locked on Paolo Banchero.
After blowing a 13-point fourth-quarter lead to the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 10, the Orlando Magic somehow had a chance to turn a collapse into victory.
But Banchero was covered, so Wagner turned his head and found an option who wasn’t there a season ago: Desmond Bane came off a screen and buried a twisting, fallaway winning 3-pointer over Toumani Camara‘s outstretched hand at the horn. Bane’s first career buzzer-beater stunned the Blazers — and just might’ve jump-started the Magic’s season.
Banchero lifted the guard into the air. Magic players sprinted from the bench and mobbed Bane as if the guard had just hit a winner in the NBA Finals.
It felt like a turning point.
«It just can ignite us,» Banchero said.
This shot, this moment, is why the Magic traded four unprotected first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony to pry the coveted 27-year-old shooter from the Memphis Grizzlies last summer.
After consecutive first-round exits and an injury-plagued season for the Magic, the front office pushed its chips in to go for it in an open Eastern Conference. Carrying expectations to get to the second round or better for the first time since 2011, Orlando’s 1-4 start put pressure on head coach Jamahl Mosley, his staff and the players to make it work.
Frustration was palpable after a stinging 111-107 loss to the Boston Celtics on Nov. 9 that dropped the Magic to 4-6. But sitting underneath one of the Magic’s practice court baskets recently, Bane was relaxed, even saying he predicted a «rocky start» to president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman.
«It’s so new, I think everybody’s searching,» Bane told ESPN. «We [didn’t get] off to the start we wanted. I don’t think it’s anything to panic about. … I’ve been here before [with slow shooting starts] … it’s starting the season off [like this] so it’s a hot topic.»
The Magic haven’t had a shooter and scorer like Bane, who averaged 19 points and shot 39% from 3 with Memphis last season, in recent years. No Magic guard or forward has averaged numbers like that since Hedo Turkoglu in 2007-08.
In dire need of more playmaking, experience and a third scoring option who fits their defensive bully identity, Orlando (7-7) is banking on Bane to take Banchero and Wagner to the next level, unlocking their rising games and forming a young trio that will be in their prime and contend in the East for years.
«We paid a heavy price,» Weltman told ESPN. «There’s one pick that we don’t have control over, but the rest we have control over. And Des entering his prime, and a lot of our key young players under contract … we’re not looking at this as one season.
«Obviously, we gave up a lot because he’s a highly talented player who fits our roster very well. And we’re betting on ourselves.»
Despite starting the season shooting 26% from beyond the arc before drilling the Portland dagger, Bane’s buzzer-beater has busted his slump as he has hit 8-for-20 from deep since. Meanwhile, Orlando has won six of its past nine games. The team had a three-game winning streak snapped in a 117-113 overtime loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday despite 29 and 26 points from Wagner and Bane, respectively, with Banchero and Jalen Suggs out because of groin injuries.
The team is finding its rhythm, sparked by the missing component the Magic believe will help Banchero and Wagner win a championship.
«He’s already unlocked things,» Banchero told ESPN of Bane’s impact on him and Wagner. «When we put him in positions to make the defense make a decision, obviously spacing, that’s something that we’ve struggled with in the past. Defenders don’t want to leave him. His playmaking on offense too. … And then he’s just a dog. He’s not scared, he’s not backing down from anybody.
«It’s only going to get better. It’s still early. It’s going to only be up from here.»
INSIDE THE MAGIC’S AdventHealth training center, players were snapping at each other and tempers flared during a highly competitive and physical training camp scrimmage set up by Mosley in the middle of Orlando’s undefeated preseason.
«I wouldn’t say I started it,» Banchero said. «But I was in there a little bit. It was just a competitive [thing], nothing personal I would say.
«But it definitely was heated.»
Wagner and Banchero remember the Magic having other practice arguments in the past. But this contentious scrimmage stood out because of how it ended.
With the temperature still boiling, Bane and Tyus Jones, teammates for three seasons in Memphis, gathered everyone together for a huddle. It was one of the first moments of the season when Bane’s voice as a leader stood out.
«This is going to be us,» Suggs told ESPN of what Bane said. «This is what we’re doing now. It has to be us throughout the year. You can’t pick and choose days when to be dogs. You’re a dog every day or you’re not. And knowing that when we step off the court, all of it is done, especially between ourselves. That fiery competitiveness is good.»
Suggs said he and Wagner had breakfast the next day and discussed what had happened. In past practice flare-ups, the Magic’s young players might’ve let tension linger or feelings go unspoken.
«[Bane has] been on some teams that has been on both sides of talking and winning, losing some games that they should have won,» Wagner said. «I don’t think we’ve had a player [speak up] after moments like that in a training camp scrimmage where, after the emotions [were hot], still sharing that perspective of what we’re really trying to accomplish.»
In 2021-22, the Grizzlies won 56 games and reached the Western Conference semifinals before losing in a scrappy six-game series to the Golden State Warriors. Memphis never made it out of the first round again, derailed by injuries, off-court drama with Ja Morant and, ultimately, Taylor Jenkins losing his job last season.
«The team reminds me a lot of the situation in Memphis,» Jones told ESPN of when the Grizzlies were on the rise. «Just young, the core group together for a number of years, growing and having made the playoffs the last couple of years, not having the success in the postseason that they wanted. But you have to go through your trials and tribulations and choose to overcome that.
«The group here is an extremely close locker room, which was similar in Memphis. I just think it’s a good recipe here.»
Bane doesn’t want to see a good thing spoil in Orlando. He said there are lessons learned from Memphis that he wants to impart on his new young team, including «togetherness» and «buy-in.»
He has tried setting an example even with his frustration. When the Atlanta Hawks were drilling the Magic in the third quarter on Nov. 4, Bane delivered a hard flagrant foul 1 on Onyeka Okongwu underneath the basket before swiping the ball back down onto Okongwu while he was on the ground. Bane drew a technical foul and was ejected after a replay review.
The Magic lost the game, but Bane’s message was sent.
«It was frustration,» Bane said. «[But] we say, no layups. Make ‘em see the lights [on the ceiling]. I can’t put myself in that position where I’m getting ejected. But definitely was hoping that it would wake me up.
«And wake up the rest of the group.»
MIDWAY THROUGH THE first quarter in Orlando’s first meeting against the Celtics on Nov. 7, Bane set an early tone for his teammates.
Against the team that dismissed the Magic in five games in last postseason’s first round, the guard dove to the court to secure a steal off Anfernee Simons before passing to an open Anthony Black for a 3.
Bane had his fingerprints all over an inspired 123-110 Magic win. The veteran disrupted Boston as he chased down multiple loose balls and made impactful fourth-quarter plays in the final five minutes, including hitting a timely 28-foot 3 with 4:11 left and later, using his muscle in the post to get a stop on a hot Jaylen Brown.
«We appreciate that setting the tone for us every day in practice, in the game,» Black said. «He’s super physical. He’s like a junkyard dog.
«Junkyard dog with a bag.»
Orlando has needed more bite in the past two postseasons, especially from deep. The Magic shot 31.8% from 3 last season, dead last. But even more glaring was the dismal 26.3% they shot from beyond the arc against Boston in the playoffs, regressing from their 30.9% 3-point shooting during their seven-game first-round loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2024.
«The obvious answer is shooting,» Weltman said of what has been missing. «We’ve been one of the worst shooting teams in the league the last couple years. And I think with that we also have relied very heavily on a small group of players for shot creation.»
The Magic offense became too stale in the playoffs. They ran 17 isolations per game for Banchero — the most of any player last postseason — and the power forward, who shot 44.4% from 3 last postseason, was doubled on 8% of those isolations. Only the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard drew a higher double-team rate than Banchero, according to ESPN Research.
«We’re a really good defensive team,» Wagner told ESPN. «But it’s pretty obvious that we struggled on offense. Shooting is part of that, but I think it’s also just how we played. I don’t know if it was super sustainable. I think last year, especially, I felt like we were pretty stagnant.
«Des is going to help a lot with just being a harder team to guard and also making some more situations a little easier for Paolo and for myself.»
Bane is shooting 31.3% from the 3 and averaging 16.5 points — numbers that are slowly rising since the winning shot against Portland.
There are flashes when Bane looks like the difference-maker who can get the Magic deep into the postseason. There are also nights like that loss to Boston just over a week ago, when Bane takes just one 3-point attempt and looks more like a player trying to fit in as opposed to aggressively hunting shots.
Against the Celtics in that second meeting, the Magic resembled the team that struggled against them in the playoffs. Although the Magic have improved their pace from 30th last season to 22nd this season, they’ve sacrificed some of their defensive identity while focusing on faster play. Orlando went from the second-best defensive rating (109.1) last season to 10th (112.9) in the league while averaging 15.9 turnovers.
That particularly frustrating loss — just two days after the upbeat win — left their coach seething and franchise star hesitant about what to say.
«Seventeen turns for 29 points,» an upset Mosley repeated seven different times about his team’s turnovers during his postgame news conference.
Not long after an annoyed Mosley finished his comments, Banchero was asked about playing with a new offensive system, how different it is from years past and if the higher pace of play contributed to the turnovers.
«Umm … yeah … I mean … I don’t know about that one,» Banchero said.
Mosley clarified it’s not a new offense. Instead, he has emphasized focusing on running after stops to take advantage of the Magic’s elite defense, quick decisions and ball movement to create easier scoring opportunities and prevent defenses from loading up on Banchero and Wagner. Bane played in a similar style in Memphis, which has factored into the team trying to bring the ball up across half court faster, Mosley said.
Already, Mosley can see Bane’s impact.
«The matchups are totally different now,» Mosley told ESPN. «Now you have these weapons. … They have to now guard every position respectfully the right way. There’s nowhere to hide their defenders.»
Orlando’s 3-point shooting is still a work in progress. The Magic are currently 23rd in the league, shooting 33.9% from beyond the arc. Banchero is shooting 25% (11-for-44) and Wagner is making 35.7% from 3, up from last season’s 29.5%. Tristan da Silva has emerged as a 3-point option, shooting 40.6% so far.
Playing faster, integrating a major player such as Bane and still trying to develop cohesion between Banchero, Wagner and Suggs requires patience: The three played a total of only 97 minutes in six games together last season because of injuries.
Bane has played some point guard, initiating offensive sets, while Suggs ramps up coming off arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Bane averaged seven assists during a recent four-game stretch against Boston twice, Portland and New York.
But one Western Conference executive says Bane and the Magic can use a passing point guard to create easier shots, explaining that Suggs is more of a stellar 3-and-D guard in the Luguentz Dort mold. Only 61.9% of Bane’s 3-point baskets this season have come off assists, which is on pace to be the second-lowest mark in his six-year career, according to ESPN Research.
«The idea was they need shooting and he provided that in Memphis,» the executive said of Bane. «But he is the type of player that needs shots created for him, either off star players or through a system. Orlando’s issues really weren’t shooting. It was more a lack of a point guard.»
Right after Bane hit the winner against Portland, the executive texted, «Wow.»
Banchero knew it was just a matter of time.
«He’s just the right fit for the team,» Banchero said. «[Shooting is] only a little bit of what he can do. … He’s a really underrated passer and underrated leader too. It’s his voice.
«I know when me and him are in the action together, I definitely get a lot cleaner looks, teams have to make a decision. It hasn’t been like that much in the past. I’ve noticed that. He just fits right in … it’s only going to get better.»
