After a wild ride to end the season, the Magic's campaign is finally over. Orlando looked on the verge of washing out before the playoffs even began after an awful loss to end the regular season followed by a lifeless showing in the first play-in game.
But the roster completely turned things around, earning the No. 8 seed and immediately jumping the Pistons to take a shocking 3–1 series lead over the No. 1 team in the East. However, the Magic failed to take advantage. The tide turned against them once Franz Wagner got hurt again and a historically awful collapse in Game 6 set the stage for a devastating Game 7 defeat in Detroit.
Despite needing only one more win to move onto the second round and shock the NBA world, Orlando is heading home with a long offseason ahead. Let's grade how the regular season and playoff run went for this year's Magic squad.
Regular Season Grade: C-
The Magic were arguably the most disappointing team in the NBA this year, and that wasn't going to change no matter how the playoff run went.
Wagner, the other half of the Magic's young forward pairing, essentially had a lost year due to an ankle injury that just would not go away. He finished the season with only 34 games played and only enjoyed a few good moments against the Pistons before getting hurt again.
Orlando's final 45–37 record doesn't quite convey the struggles the team went through this season. On a disturbing number of nights the roster looked disjointed and completely uninspired under coach Jamahl Mosley. Injuries were certainly a factor, but for the most part the Magic just played bad basketball for most of the season—bad enough that it overwhelmed more positive developments like Bane's excellent play and Anthony Black coming into his own.
Playoffs Grade: B
All the above points made Orlando's playoff run all the more baffling—and exciting.
After looking dead in the water from October to April, the Magic suddenly played like the team everyone thought they could be once the playoffs began. Orlando's defense was suffocating. Paolo Banchero played like a true No. 1 scoring option while getting support up and down the roster once Wagner was ruled out halfway through the series. Bane and Jalen Suggs were outstanding. Jamal Cain came out of nowhere to become a critical aspect of the rotation and had the dunk of the playoffs.
The roster at large played with amazing energy and focus. It was honestly remarkable to watch. We've seen teams peak in the playoffs after underwhelming regular seasons, but the Magic team we watched this season didn't seem capable of reaching the heights they would reach in the postseason.
It served as much-needed proof of concept: Banchero was indeed a true No. 1, and the roster assembled around him was capable of playing winning basketball in the playoffs despite obvious offensive deficiencies.
But they blew a 3–1 lead. That is a very difficult pill to swallow regardless of context. They blew that lead by scoring only 19 points in the second half of Game 6 despite going up by 22 in the first half.
It was a fitting encapsulation of the multitudes this Magic team contained: they could look like one of the best teams in the world for one quarter and like they had never touched a basketball the next. After experiencing the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in the same series, a B feels like it captures the whole range well enough.