Magic Offense Flashes New Identity With Opening Play of Preseason

It may just be one opening night preseason game in Memphis, Tennessee on a Wednesday in October, but the new-look Orlando Magic showed a real flash of what their offensive identity might look like under first-year Head Coach, Sean Sweeney.

Sweeney's Magic opened with a play that shows how complementary these pieces truly are together, especially among the starter-level guys who can bend their games to the lineups around them.

The first play the Magic ran worked so well creating an open corner three for Wendell Carter Jr., they came right back down and ran it again, like a football team with a strong offensive line who knows it can run over you four yards at a time just daring you stop them while knowing what's coming all game long.

That next time down, Carter used the pump-fake to counter the harder closeout from his defender after drilling a three the play prior, then battled his way into the paint for a tough bucket drive through traffic.

This set immediately puts everyone in Orlando's starting lineup in the right position to succeed, and should generally create a good-to-great look for the offense just about every time down, if it remains a big part of the playbook going forward.

Sean Sweeney's Magic open with Spain Pick-and-Roll, a perfect play to utilize each starter's skill-set & gravity

Franz ball-handling, driving, initiating

Paolo screening, paint scoring, short-roll playmaking

Bane moving, screening screener's man, 3pt popping

Pick Your Poison pic.twitter.com/THgzsvZksp
— Ryan Kaminski NBA (@beyondtheRK) October 8, 2026

How Spain Pick & Roll Unlocks This Magic Offense

Franz drives on Boozer — Oct 7, 2026; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner (22) drives to the basket as Memphis Grizzlies forward Cameron Boozer (27) defends during the second quarter at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Orlando's roster is built in a funky, backwards way when you think about how offenses used to run back in the day.

Instead of a traditional point guard bringing the ball up, initiating the offense, the Magic propose two big wing point forwards do the shot creation instead, and for good reason; they are both hard to stop.

Putting the ball in the hands of Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero, asking them to use their downhill force superpowers to bend the defense by attacking the paint, then generating that leverage to open the floor for a 3pt sniper like Desmond Bane, is how everyone envisioned this offense once the blockbuster trade went down.

Injuries were the main obstacle stopping that dream from becoming reality last season; but, now, with everyone healthy, and a refocused commitment to movement, positioning, and precision under Sweeney, the Magic are ready to bring that vision to life on the court.

Opening the entire preseason with Spain Pick-and-Roll is already a positive sign of what's to come; creating and making an open three from Carter from that set, then running it again because it worked, getting another open look for Carter in the corner before he pumps and drives for another two points, feels like a sign so loud it could be Wile E. Coyote swinging it.

Spain Pick-and-Roll, also known as Stack P&R, is simply one perfect play to utilize each starter's skill-set & gravity.

In the way Sweeney set them up, this play featured Franz ball-handling, driving, initiating; Paolo screening, paint scoring, short-roll playmaking; Bane moving, screening screener's man, 3pt-popping.

With shooters spacing the corners like Carter and Jase Richardson to open the game, along with other floor-spacers like Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black, Tristan da Silva, Nikola Vucevic at any time, these newfound spacing concepts forces defenses to pick their poison.

This play is a great set for this starting lineup rebuilding the team's offensive identity because it places everyone in ideal positioning to take advantage of their best skills, without overtasking anyone along the way.

Bane's off-ball shooting gravity is up there with any player in the league, leveraging the defense to pay attention to a 3pt sniper bowling ball bouncing through the lane from corner to corner.

When the defense is already having to stop a pick-and-roll two-man game from two or three of the strongest and savviest frontcourt players in the league between Banchero, Wagner, and Carter, needing to keep one eye on Bane sprinting side to side behind your back is how you leave the defense cross-eyed.

Sweeney said to me on the team's spacing goals, "we would rather be too high, too wide, too far apart, too spaced," hoping to "make the defense guard the length and the width of the court."

I followed up with Sean Sweeney about his Spacing Goals for the Orlando Magic:

“We would rather be too high, too wide, too far apart, too spaced.

There’s different times when you might want 4-out/1-in (or) 5-out.

Make the defense guard the length and the width of the court.” pic.twitter.com/cfqLkwjToz
— Ryan Kaminski NBA (@beyondtheRK) September 30, 2026

Spain/Stack Pick-and-Roll forces the defense to move and make so many decisions at once, that it sets off the ultimate combination of actions and reactions where if you double any one of these Magic players in these specific roles, someone is left wide open, and everyone can knock down the open shot, create a good look, or drive right at the rack from those spots.

Franz surveying, Banchero catching the ball with feet in the paint, Bane moving off ball towards a hot spot from deep, Carter lurking in the dunker spot or a corner, with any other 3pt shooting threat in the opposite corner, places everyone in the right role to best succeed individually while helping the team.

The key to building good habits come playoff time is running a play like this so often that the read-and-react decision making becomes something you can do in your sleep, becoming so comfortable that your teammates know what you're likely to do before you do, while creating a reliable play-call everyone can trust and execute to create a good look for the open man nearly every time down.

The Magic mastering Spain P&R brings them one step closer to establishing their new offensive identity.

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