{"id":556583,"date":"2026-01-24T00:08:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/556583\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T00:08:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:08:32","slug":"orlando-magic-lacking-identity-as-cavaliers-come-to-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/556583\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic lacking identity as Cavaliers come to town"},"content":{"rendered":"

With three minutes left in the first quarter of Thursday\u2019s game between the Magic<\/a> and Hornets<\/a> at Kia Center, Charlotte<\/a> rookie Kon Knueppel missed a 3-pointer from the left corner.<\/p>\n

Despite Orlando<\/a> having four players ready in the paint to rebound, the ball ended up in the hands of a cutting Josh Green, who tipped it back to a patient Knueppel.<\/p>\n

This time, the No. 4 pick didn\u2019t miss and put Charlotte ahead 21-9 late in the opening frame.<\/p>\n

The sequence was just one of many where the visiting Southeast Division foe made an extra play, hit from beyond the arc and played with more urgency than Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Charlotte, which was playing on the second night of a back-to-back, grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, notched 16 second-chance points, racked up 50 points in the paint, shot 47% from beyond the arc, and led by as many as 33 points en route to a 124-97 victory.<\/p>\n

Whether it was another slow start that saw the Magic fall behind by 15 points after 12 minutes or a lack of energy out of the half \u2014 they allowed 35 points in both the first and third quarters \u2014 the contest had all the makings of how the team has played as of late.<\/p>\n

So, if the Magic aren\u2019t going to defend at a high level as the franchise has done in the past \u2014 it\u2019s defensive rating finished top three the past two seasons \u2014 and also not execute on offense with pace and precision, what exactly is the team\u2019s identity?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need one,\u201d newcomer Desmond Bane<\/a> said in the locker room after the 27-point loss Thursday. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing that\u2019s been the most discouraging, really since Dec. 1st. We\u2019ve won some games but I think we\u2019re just kind of finding ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no true identity to our team right now,\u201d Bane added. \u201cAnd it\u2019s hard to win on a consistent basis when you don\u2019t have (a) calling card.\u201d<\/p>\n

Magic star Paolo Banchero<\/a> shared a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be on the same page,\u201d he said. \u201cIt sucks that I\u2019m saying that in January but that\u2019s the reality. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve been on the same page much this year. I just think it\u2019s showing up with the way we\u2019ve played, showing up with the inconsistencies throughout the season, and it\u2019s frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys in the locker room, we want to win,\u201d he added. \u201cBut [as] I said, you can\u2019t just say you want to win without doing anything to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

If anyone in the Magic locker room knows the ebbs and flows of life in the NBA, it\u2019s Moe Wagner<\/a>. The Magic center recently returned to the court after missing a year-plus due to a torn left ACL and has been a part of the organization since 2020-21.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re deep in the mud,\u201d Wagner said in the locker room. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve struggled this much \u2026 as much as we do right now in my stint here. And we\u2019re all looking for answers. But it\u2019s also part of this profession that it\u2019s not always going to go our way.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you\u2019ve kind of got to start looking left and right, and figure it out together,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The past 15 games, Orlando\u2019s offensive rating (111.2) was 25th league-wide while its defensive rating (116.5) was 21st, according to NBA.com<\/a>. And the problems impact each other.<\/p>\n

When the Magic miss a shot or don\u2019t get a foul call in their favor, the team on occasion doesn\u2019t get set in its half-court defense, which allows opponents to get easy baskets. And when they\u2019re not forcing turnovers to get out in transition, Orlando\u2019s half-court offense, at times, becomes stagnant.<\/p>\n

Orlando (23-20) shot 32% from 3-point range the first three quarters against Charlotte (17-28) and was outscored 14-6 in the fastbreak that same stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m never a fan of saying that there\u2019s two sides of the ball, and we\u2019ve got to figure this out on this side,\u201d Wagner said. \u201cThey\u2019re connected and, generally speaking, when you look at the swag, the energy and the spirit, it just feels not up to par to our standard and we\u2019ve got to figure that out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Injuries to key players have only compounded the situation.<\/p>\n

The Magic believe Jalen Suggs<\/a> (right knee MCL bruise) is close to returning but he missed his eighth consecutive contest. Earlier in the day, Franz Wagner<\/a> was ruled out due to left ankle soreness.<\/p>\n

Mosley said the soreness was lingering from the left high ankle sprain that kept Wagner out 16 games\u00a0before he returned for two games against Memphis in Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came up really, really, really sore after shootaround,\u201d Mosley said about Wagner before tip-off Thursday. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve got to obviously look at the long-term view for how we\u2019re dealing with our guys, and he\u2019s one of those guys that we have to continue to look at in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Franz Wagner remains out for Saturday\u2019s contest against Cleveland, Suggs was upgraded to probable, indicating his return is likely to happen sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

Regardless of who\u2019s available, however, the Magic aren\u2019t pleased with how they\u2019ve performed.<\/p>\n

Still, they haven\u2019t allowed it to create division within the locker room.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think that anybody has selfish intentions,\u201d Bane said. \u201cEverybody\u2019s trying to figure it out and sometimes it might look a certain way, but I don\u2019t think anybody is splintering or anything like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can talk all we want but at some point, there\u2019s got to be action behind it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

When the Cavaliers (25-20) come to town Saturday, the Magic begin a six-game stretch against teams currently positioned to make the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to be better,\u201d Bane said. \u201cFlat out. I\u2019ve got to be better. We\u2019ve all got to be better if we want to be a team that we want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Moe Wagner: \u201cRegardless if we win or lose, it\u2019s just the way we play. It\u2019s not (a) standard we are all happy with. We\u2019re going to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Cavaliers<\/p>\n

When:\u00a07 p.m., Saturday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With three minutes left in the first quarter of Thursday\u2019s game between the Magic and Hornets at Kia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,165,48,6,47,76,3883,1412,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-556583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-magic","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-magic","14":"tag-orlandomagic","15":"tag-social","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115947169866484786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}