By trading for forward Noah Penda from France in the 2025 NBA draft, the Orlando Magic have once again scored a victory in Europe as their international players shine.

Orlando Magic Score Another European Victory

On opening night of the 2024-25 NBA season, a total of 61 players in the league were from Europe (about 13%). When the 2025-26 season tips off in October, a full 1/3 of the Orlando Magic roster will hail from Europe—the highest percentage of all teams. Since acquiring German brothers Moritz and Franz Wagner in April of 2021, Orlando has found success by looking East.

The team signed Georgian big man Goga Bitadze at the end of the 2022-23 season as a free agent after he was waived by the Indiana Pacers. Impressed with his skills, buy-in, and performance in starting minutes after the injury to Wendell Carter Jr., the team re-signed him in July of last year on a three-year, $25 million contract. Bitadze has evolved into a fan-favorite rim-protector with a top-tier blocking percentage and effective pick-and-roll game.

With the 18th pick in the 2024 draft, the Magic selected Tristan Da Silva, the German-born forward. After Wagner and Paolo Banchero went down with oblique injuries in his rookie season, TDS averaged 9.2 points per game in his 34 games as a starter. His Brazilian roots have also increased the Magic’s international visibility, with Orlando becoming a very popular franchise in South America’s largest country. Da Silva is currently thriving in the Summer League, scoring 19 and 18 respectively against the Sacrament Kings and Toronto Raptors.

Rookie Penda: Another Beast from the East

Orlando was ecstatic when French forward Noah Penda fell to the second round in the 2025 draft. The team projected him to come off the board late in the first round and seized the opportunity to grab him at number 32 by making a deal with Boston.

At 6’8″ and 225 pounds, Penda has the size to cause chaos. As a rim defender, he is able to recover quickly and block shots with appreciable awareness. As a scorer, he is a talented off-ball cutter who is able to score at all three levels. In France, he led his team to victory in the FIBA U20 Eurobasket Tournament, averaging 11.7 points per game. In 28 games with the LNB Elite in France, he averaged 10.2 points to go with five rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

Given more opportunity to shine in Sunday’s loss to the Raptors, Penda delivered. He shot 44% from the field, and poached 14 rebounds with three steals and a block. The rookie also drained a nice bucket from the arc, going one for three. Penda was versatile, giving the Raptors problems with his size and wingspan while taking time in the paint to drop a nice floater and leap high for an aggressive put back in the 3rd quarter. He excited the Magic subreddit with his dynamic presence and sky-high potential for a rotational spot this season.

If you’re wondering why Noah Penda was firmly in the first round of a lot draft boards, this play gives you a glimpse

His defensive versatility as a big bodied forward but with quick feet gives him big upside as a switchable wing pic.twitter.com/7jENd3xAbM

— Point Made Basketball (@pointmadebball) July 13, 2025

The Magic Look Eastward

With Franz as a budding star, his brother Moe re-signing this off-season after competing for 6MOTY last year, Goga filling in the gaps until his return, Da Silva shining in the Summer League and Penda reassuring the front office that they made the right choice, Orlando has found success from abroad. As the NBA eyes international expansion with games in foreign countries, the Magic are happy to showcase their diversity as their strength. Early predictions have Orlando in top-four territory next season, made possible by their European players.

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