Paolo Banchero, Magic Are Officially Worth Monitoring After Recent Surge

Don’t look now, but the Magic are heating up.

After beating the Cavaliers on Wednesday night, 128–122, Orlando now owns a 36–28 record and the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference standings. The result marked five wins in a row for the Magic, their longest winning streak fo the year. It’s also been the best five-game stretch of the season for the team’s best player, Paolo Banchero; the 23-year-old scored 26.7 points per game on 57% shooting from the field while leading Orlando to victory night after night.

It’s been an impressive stretch of basketball for the Magic. Three wins have come against tanking teams, to be sure, but Orlando struggled enough to start the year that such victories over lesser-talented opponents were not a given by any means. But Wednesday’s win over Cleveland (even without Jarrett Allen) and Saturday’s blowout of the Timberwolves at home reflect the Magic’s recent surge.

Paolo Banchero highlights vs. CLE:

25 PTS
8 REB
7 AST
+11 +/-@Kia pic.twitter.com/8YMiRwDHNy
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) March 12, 2026

It may be tempting to dismiss it as fool’s gold, and based on how the season has gone in Orlando thus far it’s a fair stance to take. This was a team pegged as on the rise following a competitive playoff series against the Celtics in 2025 and the front office seemed to agree, taking a huge win-now swing by trading five first-rounders for Desmond Bane to address the roster’s shooting deficiency. Once the season started, the team stumbled out of the gates, going 3–7 in the first 10 games. They weren’t just losing games, either—it was ugly. Bane wasn’t sliding seamlessly into the lineup and the Banchero-Franz Wagner duo was having a very tough time picking up where they left off last year.

Then the injury bug hit yet again after it made for a serious problem last season. Banchero missed 10 games and returned to a squad at relatively full strength for all of two games before Wagner suffered an ankle injury that has largely sidelined him since December. He’s currently out indefinitely. Jalen Suggs’s availability has been up in the air for much of the season.

It hasn’t been all bad. The emergence of Anthony Black stands out as an exciting development amid the mediocrity on display. But overall rocky play and inconsistent lineups conspired to keep Orlando treading water around .500 for much of the season and on the fringes of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

The Magic returned from All-Star Weekend determined to change that. Orlando boasts an 8–3 record since coming back from the break and climbed out of the play-in tournament into an automatic playoff berth spot. The franchise must hold on for the rest of the year before declaring them an official playoff threat—but this recent surge shows the Magic are very much worth monitoring as the NBA season winds down.

This Magic surge is for real

As noted above the Magic took full advantage of the three tanking teams on their schedule in the last five games and have another coming up on Thursday night in the form of the Wizards. Such victories usually aren’t terribly meaningful and, in this case, could be used to balance out the optimism stemming from wins over genuine contenders in the Cavs and Wolves. But they aren’t just winning those games. They are dominating. And that began even before this win streak.

Over the last 11 games Orlando ranks in the top-10 for both offensive and defensive rating after spending most of the season hanging around the middle of the pack in those stats. The Magic’s net rating of 10.4 in that stretch ranks fourth, ahead of fellow East playoff teams like the Celtics and Knicks. The defense in particular has come around in a big way for coach Jamahl Mosley’s squad; by defensive rating Orlando boasts the third-best defense in the league since the All-Star break behind only the Thunder and Knicks.

Paolo Banchero has played like a star during Orlando’s hot streak

Most NBA teams are capable of playing well in short bursts but 11 games is a solid sample size. Furthermore, it’s always easier to buy into a recent hot stretch when it’s being driven by a star player. That’s what’s happening with the Magic and Banchero. He’s been scoring well during the win streak, as noted above, and his overall game has been strong since the All-Star break. In 11 games since coming back Banchero is putting up a nightly statline of 25.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while usually taking on the toughest defensive assignment available due to Wagner’s extended absence.

This level of two-way play is the leap everyone expected out of Banchero to start the year. He just took a bit to get there. Putting this version of the star forward next to Bane (averaging 20.6 points and 2.0 three-pointers per game in his first Magic season) gives Orlando a dangerous one-two punch.

Desmond Bane vs. CLE:

35 PTS
6 REB
6 AST
12-19 FG@Kia pic.twitter.com/5eWnR1R5Mw
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) March 12, 2026

They can’t take their foot off the gas but the Magic are rounding into form at just the right time. They have 18 games left on the schedule, enough time to gather even more momentum as the postseason nears. Suggs is back in action and might be the key to the whole operation, even moreso than Banchero—the Magic own a net rating of 6.18 per 100 possessions with Suggs on the floor, a number that flips to -1.18 when he’s off. And there’s the chance they benefit from some better health. Wagner’s chances of coming back seem slim but if Black can make it back from an abdominal injury his impact is enough to swing a a playoff game.

Seeding is tight in the East as it stands—Orlando is technically tied with Miami for the fifth seed right now but owns the tiebreaker, while the Raptors, 76ers, Heat and Hornets are all within four games. There is little room to breath. But the roster’s best player is playing like a star and is flanked by several high-level role players who know exactly how to best impact winning. That makes for a great playoff formula.

For much of the season the Magic have been an afterthought. But this recent stretch of great play demands we keep an eye on Orlando for the next few weeks.

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