Schedule release day might as well be Christmas Day for Orlando Magic fans.

When the schedule drops in August, everyone runs downstairs to pore through the schedule and see what gifts the league left for each team.

For Magic fans, that usually comes in the form of attention.

Orlando fans were happy to see 14 nationally televised games on the schedule. And the Magic have taken advantage of it so far, going 4-2 in their nationally televised games (including the added 15th and 16th games as part of advancing to the knockout round of the NBA Cup).

But the Magic are once again absent from the Christmas Day schedule. They have not played on Christmas since Dwight Howard’s final season in 2012, when they opened the lockout-shortened season in Oklahoma City. The Magic are 5-4 all-time in Christmas Day games.

That would make sense. The Magic have made the Playoffs just four times since Howard’s departure. It would make sense they are not featured on one of the league’s showcase days — when they try to feature their best and most marketable players and their best teams.

That is ultimately the Magic’s path to Christmas Day — the Playoffs.

Orlando has not built up enough Playoff equity to garner that attention, despite back-to-back Playoff appearances. If the Magic want to play on the league’s showcase day, they will earn it in the postseason.

Magic players are likely happy to have the day off. But as everyone notes, playing on Christmas means you matter. It means you are in the spotlight, expected to compete for a championship.

Playing on Christmas is as much a status symbol as it is an honorific. And it is one that the Magic should want.

And the Magic are not too far away from playing on Christmas. There are three eteams that play on Christmas. The Magic are building all three.

1. Championship Contenders

Quite simply, the NBA’s main goal on Christmas Day is to maximize ratings. They do this by trying to put all of their most marketable players in games on the day.

They also want to put out meaningful games. Or at least what they try to project will be meaningful games for their league and their season.

Teams that are championship contenders often find themselves on the Christmas Day slate. The league had to give the Oklahoma City Thunder a game for winning the title last year.

If the league expects that you will be competing in June, it is going to find a way to put you on TV.

The Orlando Magic’s path to a Christmas Day game is likely here. They are in the Eastern Conference and so having the chance to advance deeper into the Playoffs and reach the Finals (a key step to winning a championship) is greater for them.

The Magic are still fighting their way up the standings after their slow start and the injuries that have consumed the team. Orlando is still expected to settle in with homecourt advantage in the first round after the team’s tough early-season schedule.

What the Magic still have to prove is whether the team can win a playoff series and advance deeper into the postseason. There is still a lot for this team to learn.

If the Magic can advance deeper into the Playoffs, it opens up so many other pathways for the team to get into the spotlight. But the Magic do not earn any of that without Playoff success first.

2. An undeniable star

Orlando Magic fans were a little peeved with how much attention the No. 1 picks that came after Paolo Banchero got.

Victor Wembanyama has not made the Playoffs yet, but he entered the league immediately as a marketing maven. Cooper Flagg is getting a Christmas Day game during his rookie season for a Dallas Mavericks team that was not expected to make the Playoffs before the season.

Banchero never got that benefit of the doubt as he was coming up — that he was not a unanimous Rookie of the Year in his class felt farcical at the time, and ever since then, there have been plenty trying to poke holes in his game, especially compared to Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams and his secondary contributions to a championship-level Thunder team immediately.

In fairness, though, Banchero has not beaten back the accusations as forcefully as he should. Whether that is because of his slow recovery from injury last year or the Magic struggling to build a competent offense around him, Banchero has not universally gained star acclaim.

This season has not helped matters. He has struggled to find his footing with his scoring and his groin injury slowed his recovery. He does not seem on track for a second All-Star appearance.

Franz Wagner does not quite capture the starmaking imagination in the way that Paolo Banchero’s potential does. And he is out right now with a high ankle sprain.

The point is while the Magic have two clear-cut perennial All-Star candidates, if not outright All-Stars, they do not have a clear-cut star that demands attention. The Magic’s two stars are still a bit anonymous.

Winning and stardom go hand in hand. More people will know about Banchero and Wagner the deeper into the Playoffs the team goes.

3. An attractive rivalry

If the Orlando Magic cannot create compelling stories individually, then perhaps their best path to a Christmas Day game will be to partner with a team and create a compelling matchup that the league wants to feature.

Again — sense a theme here? — a Playoff series would help with this.

But if the Magic have done one thing this season, it is to pick up potential rivalries and annoy several of the best teams in the league. And they have done a lot of this on national TV where everyone can see.

Desmond Bane has done his part to annoy everyone around the league. He slammed the ball at Onyeka Okongwu and the Atlanta Hawks in a game earlier in the season. He made Shaqtin’ the Fool on Christmas Day for pegging OG Anunoby with a basketball in a game a few weeks ago.

The Orlando Magic have gotten into scrums and pull-aparts with the Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers already this season.

The Magic’s games against the Knicks this season have been feisty and competitive, including their NBA Cup Semifinal matchup in Las Vegas. That would make for a fun and competitive playoff series — and a decent matchup for a Christmas noon tip-off (although maybe the Knicks might graduate to a more marquee game if they go as deep in the Playoffs as they think).

The point is the Magic are going to create some rivalry that could be compelling enough to get on a national TV slot. And possibly even a primary one.

Three of the Magic’s four games against the Hawks this year are on national TV. Three of the Magic’s four games against the Cavs are on national TV.

The league is already sensing the rivalries they can build with the Magic for their national TV schedule.

But those rivalries get built in the Playoffs. And that should be the takeaway from this. The Magic’s national profile and interest will be built in the Playoffs. And they can build that by winning a series and getting to the higher-intensity games later in the postseason.

That is how they will get Christmas-level respect.