“Don, you bring up the Magic and health in the same sentence. It’s not something that usually comes out with a good result, to be honest with you. This is a team that we can quite frankly say has been cursed these past few seasons, plagued with injury. Seems like every time the Magic are ready to get it together, somebody goes down—whether it’s Jalen Suggs, whether it’s Franz Wagner, or even Paolo Banchero. What I do think is important is that this is kind of a test. The Magic didn’t make that many moves this off-season, banking on their core of Desmond Bane and the three others that I mentioned. That is the core. That is who they believe can lead them to the promised land. That is a testament to Jeff Weltman saying even though this team has experienced injuries, he still believes that this is the core that can get it done. 14 back-to-backs is rough, but the Magic need to succeed. There’s no excuses in this time period, Don. Sure, you can rest Franz, you can rest Jalen here and there, you can load management, whatever you want to call it, but they need to be successful this regular season. And a big part of that success is playing extremely well and winning around 80% of your back-to-backs.”
