Hey there, Last Night In Basketballers — I am, as I do every year, re-appropriating the Three Things I Noticed on League Pass format to preview the upcoming season. Instead of three things I noticed, it’ll be something more along the lines of three things I’m looking forward to, interested in, or want to see. Some of them might be narrative-based, some might be stats, and some might include video. But they'll all be focused on the 2026-27 campaign.
The schedule for those posts will be as follows (podcasts previewing each division with Mo Dakhil are in parentheses):
- Atlantic Division (BOS, BKN, NYK, PHI, TOR) (Podcast)
- Central Division (CHI, CLE, DET, IND, MIL) (Podcast)
- Southeast Division (ATL, CHA, MIA, ORL, WAS) (Podcast)
- Pacific Division (GSW, LAC, LAL, PHX, SAC) (Podcast)
- Northwest Division (DEN, MIN, OKC, POR, UTA) (Podcast)
- Southwest Division (DAL, HOU, MEM, NOP, SAS) (Podcast)
So without further ado, let's get to the Orlando Magic, who swapped out their coach but kept their roster mostly intact.
The roster, running it back
The Magic are clearly banking on new head coach Sean Sweeney being THE difference-maker for them, because they are bringing back almost the exact same roster they had last season. Of the top 16 players in minutes played last year, 13 of them are back on the roster for the 2026-27 season.
That's right. Each of Desmond Bane, Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr., Anthony Black, Tristan Da Silva, Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Goga Bitadze, Noah Penda, Jevon Carter, Jase Richardson, Jonathan Isaac and Jamal Cain is back. The only three players who played more than 25 total minutes that will not return are Tyus Jones, Jett Howard and Moe Wagner.
That means that in total, the Magic will return players who accounted for 90.2% of their minutes played last season. The only new(-ish) face is Nikola Vucevic, who (presumably) essentially replaces Moe Wagner as the third center, and thus probably won't get all that many minutes.
That's a pretty staggering amount of roster continuity for a team that was the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and lost in the first round of the playoffs, albeit in a closer-than-expected series. When you bring back essentially the same group of players that lost in the first round (and you're not a young upstart making its first trip to the postseason), you had better change something to make a difference this time around. For the Magic, they clearly think that's Sweeney.