{"id":727941,"date":"2026-05-07T09:36:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/727941\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T09:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:36:17","slug":"orlando-magics-future-is-still-bright-even-after-disappointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/727941\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic\u2019s Future Is Still Bright, Even After Disappointment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The search for the NBA\u2019s next great young contender usually circles the same handful of teams,\u00a0like the Thunder, Spurs,\u00a0and even the Celtics<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though the Orlando Magic<\/a> ended their season on a rather heartbreaking note, losing to the Detroit Pistons<\/a> in Game 7 in the first round, there is still much hope for this young team for years to come.<\/p>\n

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They aren\u2019t a \u201cfun young group\u201d anymore. They\u2019re a threat, one that the rest of the league is dangerously underestimating now that they proved that they can be competitive in the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite falling to the No. 8 seed this season, more teams and people around the league should recognize that the Magic are ready to contend and become one of those great young franchises.<\/p>\n

Magic Were Built from the Ground Up<\/p>\n

The Magic\u2019s recent success is the result of a deliberate rebuild focused on drafting, player development, and continuity. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Since 2021, Orlando has used its draft capital<\/a> to build a core that has led to success, including drafting Franz Wagner<\/a> and Jalen Suggs<\/a> in 2021 and, of course, drafting Paolo Banchero<\/a> first overall in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Magic\u2019s player development staff has also turned raw prospects into rotation-ready contributors.<\/p>\n

Anthony Black<\/a> has evolved into a reliable sixth man with the potential for much more, while Wendell Carter Jr.<\/a> became a top-20<\/a> rebounder alongside Banchero, and Suggs transformed into one of the NBA\u2019s best perimeter defenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The front office invested in Jamahl Mosley\u2019s system, emphasizing defensive versatility and chemistry. Unfortunately, the Magic decided he is not the coach who can lead them further into this team\u2019s bright future.<\/p>\n

However, now that the front office knows the blueprint for success in the draft and in developing players, their new head coach should have an easy time finding quality players, especially if Orlando hires the right coach.<\/p>\n

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In Need of the Right Mastermind Behind the Team<\/p>\n

On May 4, the Magic dismissed Jamahl Mosley after a third-straight first-round elimination in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, Orlando must find a reliable and proven coach who is able to take this roster that Mosley has built and be able to win now.<\/p>\n

As of now, many are speculating<\/a> that the Magic will land Billy Donovan<\/a> as their next head coach. The long-time Bulls head coach has a proven track record of success. He led the Thunder to the Western Conference Finals in 2015, his first season, before losing to the Warriors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He has also had a Hall of Fame coaching career in college, first leading Marshall University to a 35-20 record over two seasons, then going to The University of Florida and winning back-to-back championships in 2006 and 2007.<\/p>\n

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The Magic once hired Donovan in 2007<\/a> as their head coach; however, he ended up getting cold feet during the introductory process and asked out of his contract to then return to the Florida Gators.<\/p>\n

Rehiring Billy Donovan<\/a> could be a great way for him to come back to unfinished business, bringing this franchise to the bright lights of the NBA and solidifying himself as the long-term solution for Orlando.<\/p>\n

Every true contender needs that one player who can be a game-changer at any given moment, and Paolo Banchero is becoming that player for Orlando.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Banchero\u00a0averaged<\/a>\u00a022.2\u00a0points,\u00a08.4\u00a0rebounds, and 5.2\u00a0assists this season. His Swiss-Army Knife game shows that he is more than ready to be the leader that this young team can build around.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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He elevated his game in the 2026 playoffs, averaging<\/a> 26.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game, which is a level of production any team would look for in their star player who has shown he can perform at the highest level when it matters.<\/p>\n

His 45-point explosion<\/a>, which is the second-highest<\/a> playoff total by a player in Magic history, highlighted the series, and Paolo showed he can flip that switch at any moment.<\/p>\n

At just 23 years old, Banchero\u2019s blend of size, playmaking, and maturity shows a star who is already here and is ready to be the future of this franchise.<\/p>\n

While the outcome of the first round playoff series for the Magic was devastating, if Franz Wagner doesn\u2019t get injured, they likely come out victorious and become one of a handful of No. 8 seeds to take down a No. 1 seed. If that happened, the entire narrative would have changed.<\/p>\n

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With a new head coach, a healthy core and another leap from their star player in Banchero, the Magic can come together and make a deep run as soon as next season.<\/p>\n

In the end, the Orlando Magic\u2019s future is looking up. They\u2019re already a contender to teams, but the league is running out of time to treat them like anything but that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Orlando Magic\u2019s Future Is Still Bright, Even After Disappointment<\/a> appeared first on The Lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The search for the NBA\u2019s next great young contender usually circles the same handful of teams,\u00a0like the Thunder,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[1130,7,3363,46,188,950,403,461,2684,48,6,47,76,3883,402,401,255,454],"class_list":["post-727941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando-magic","tag-anthony-black","tag-basketball","tag-billy-donovan","tag-celtics","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-florida-gators","tag-franz-wagner","tag-jalen-suggs","tag-jamahl-mosley","tag-magic","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlandomagic","tag-paolo-banchero","tag-the-magic","tag-warriors","tag-wendell-carter-jr"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116532621054373094","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727941","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=727941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}