Tag: Magic

2024-25 Orlando Magic: A quick preview

With one of the deepest benches and a top-tier defense, the Magic are building something special. Third-year star Paolo Banchero has already shown flashes of MVP-level potential, making it clear that this team is on the verge of a breakthrough. They …

With one of the deepest benches and a top-tier defense, the Magic are building something special. Third-year star Paolo Banchero has already shown flashes of MVP-level potential, making it clear that this team is on the verge of a breakthrough. They may be one year away from taking that next big step, though. In a stacked Eastern Conference, they’ll be fighting for the sixth seed, but even if things don’t go perfectly, they’re almost certain to make the playoffs through the play-in tournament.

After a surprise finish last year, breaking their playoff drought and securing a Top 5 seed in the East, the Magic solidified their roster for the 2024-25 season. Their big offseason move was signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a three-year, $66 million contract. Caldwell-Pope is a high-level defender and one of the league’s most durable players, having played in 96 percent of regular-season games since 2013. His toughness and experience add a valuable veteran presence to this young roster.

Orlando also prioritized continuity, re-signing key free agents like Goga Bitadze, Gary Harris, and Moritz Wagner, while renegotiating Jonathan Isaac’s deal. Meanwhile, young talents Jett Howard and Anthony Black are ready to step up. Although they didn’t play major roles last season, both are brimming with potential and could be key to the Magic’s next leap.

Report: Mutual interest between Klay Thompson and Orlando Magic

With the start of free agency looming, there’s already one team reportedly being linked to Klay Thompson.

The first domino to fall during the Golden State Warriors highly anticipated offseason will likely involve four-time champion Klay Thompson. The five-time NBA All-Star sharpshooter is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and he reportedly already has suitors outside of the Bay Area.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, there is mutual interest between the Orlando Magic and Thompson. In an appearance on Fan Duel TV’s “Run It Back,” Charania reported Thompson is a name to keep an eye on for the Magic.

Via @RunItBackFDTV on Twitter:

Coming off a loss in Game 7 to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the postseason, the Orlando Magic are expected to have open cap space and spend in free agency.  The Magic will have the chance to build around the impressive young core of Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner.

Thompson is coming off an up-and-down season with the Warriors, during which he came off the bench for the first time in his decorated career. The 34-year-old averaged 17.9 points on 43.2% shooting from the field and 38.7% from beyond the arc.

Free agency is set to begin on June 30 when the new league year gets underway.

This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and X! 

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Sixers understand matchup with Magic is biggest game of the year

The Philadelphia 76ers understand that their matchup with the Orlando Magic on Friday is the biggest game of the season.

CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers have new life. After looking like they would most certainly be playing in the play-in tournament at the beginning of April, the return of Joel Embiid has coincided with a 6-game winning streak that has positioned themselves to move into the top 6 and earn a playoff spot.

A matchup with the Orlando Magic on Friday now has a lot of playoff implications. The Sixers are just a game back of the Magic now and they own the tiebreaker as they have won the season series.

A win on Friday would move Philadelphia ahead of Orlando in the standings barring a win by the Indiana Pacers which would trigger a 3-way tie and the Magic would win that due to them leading their division.

“It’s maybe the biggest game of the year right now for us tomorrow,” said Nic Batum at practice on Thursday. “So we’re at home. I mean, we kind of have everybody back right now. We had a great practice today. You know the crowd’s gonna be into it tomorrow so it can be a good night for everybody.”

Just a few weeks ago, none of this seemed possible. The Sixers looked a bit out of it. It didn’t look possible that they would be able to move out of the play-in, but they have new life and they understand that heading into this battle with the Magic.

“This is the NBA,” Batum added. “Everything changes. Like, tomorrow’s gonna be different. So sometimes you just gotta keep working like I told you a couple weeks ago. You can’t give up, you gotta keep working. We never know. This thing might turn around and it’s kind of turning around right now. So I think the momentum right before the playoffs is great.”

For the Sixers, it would be best to get into the top 6 and climb into a playoff berth. That would give Embiid and others more time to rest and prepare for the rigors of the playoffs and get ready for everything they want to accomplish.

That’s why a win over the Magic is imperative on Friday.

“We need a big win tomorrow,” Batum finished. “It’s gonna be a tough game for sure because they just lost three in a row (note: Orlando has actually lost two in a row) and they need that game as well so they won’t give it to us, but hopefully, we’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

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Patrick Beverley continues to Twitter jinx himself into getting traded

One of the most impressive streaks in the NBA

You really can’t fault Patrick Beverley for getting caught up in NBA Twitter.

It’s an incredibly fun and intoxicating space to talk about The Association at any given time—even if those same tweets can also really come back to bite. So you’d think someone who is first and foremost an NBA player would be weary of that reality.

Not Beverley.

The journeyman may have some of the worst luck imaginable when it comes to NBA Twitter. It seems every time he chimes in on a trade or acquisition he gets moved in a corresponding deal. It’s a truly wild streak and it stayed alive in tragic fashion on NBA trade deadline day.

It started with Beverley tweeting about how thrilled he was to see the Los Angeles Lakers trade for D’Angelo Russell, his former teammate in Minnesota last year. The first tempting of fate.

It continued with Beverley joking about Adrian Wojnarowski beating Shams Charania on trade scoops.

And then, of course, it ended with the Lakers trading Beverley to the Orlando Magic for Mo Bamba.

That’s just tough. Really tough.

While it appears Beverley is a strong candidate to get bought out in Orlando—giving him an opportunity to sign elsewhere as a free agent—it’s not an ideal situation for someone who thought he’d be competing for a title with LeBron James at the start of the season.

Someone get PatBev some burner accounts so he can tweet his NBA thoughts in peace before he jinxes himself into the G League.

Austin Rivers’ big fight with Mo Bamba and the Orlando Magic, explained

This fight got ugly fast

What’s going on in the NBA, man? It just seems like tempers are flying everywhere.

On Thursday night it’s Dillon Brooks taking a cheap shot at Donovan Mitchell, which leads into a fight and an eventual (and also rightful!) suspension for Brooks.

The very next night, we get a huge scuffle between Austin Rivers and Mo Bamba that will undoubtedly lead to a few more suspensions. It was such a wild scene. No one saw it coming.

Austin Rivers was by the Orlando Magic bench one second where Bamba was seated and then, next thing you know, the two are both on the ground tussling away.

We only have a few details on what went down, so here’s everything we know so far.

Watch: Lou Holtz works magic in giving Notre Dame players a pep talk

Lou!

Anyone familiar with Notre Dame football is familiar with Lou Holtz. The former head coach led the Fighting Irish to their last national championship in 1988 after a start to that decade that had to program in ruins.

Holtz went on to coach at Notre Dame through 1996, had the second most wins of any Fighting Irish head coach by the time he left and coached at South Carolina before hanging up the headset for good.

Holtz is still seen regularly whether talking to football teams or for other reasons. Regardless, Holtz was back on campus recently and spoke to this year’s edition of the Notre Dame football team and pulled out an old magic trick to wow the room.  Take a look below.

Holtz has been performing this trick for quite some time now, and it never gets old. I have searched the internet but have come up empty but I remember hearing or reading at one point that he did this in front of a room full of recruits in the late-eighties and a number of them including Dorsey Levens gave their commitments soon after.

You can bet the next time I have to give a presentation at work around team building that I’ll have mastered this trick and be performing it, too.

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NBA Free Agency 2022: Every NBA team’s projected cap space heading into Thursday, ranked

The NBA’s spending spree is beginning.

It’s time, y’all. NBA free agency is upon us. Transaction season is here. Teams are going to be wheeling and dealing for the next few months.

There are going to be lots of big-money deals dished out — this list of the highest paid players in the league is almost certain to grow. But, honestly? It’s not the greatest summer to be a big name free agent.

There aren’t many teams out there with a ton of money to spend. We just got reported salary cap projections and, while the cap did rise, most teams are still well above that number. Well, at least according to most projections.

That’s OK, though. There are still exceptions teams can use and trades they can make to potentially free up cap space or find improvements for their teams.

Wondering where your favorite team will end up? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s how much every team could potentially spend this summer courtesy of the good folks over at Sportrac.

The numbers that follow aren’t the actual salary cap figures for teams — they’re projections. They factor in cap holds teams are likely to renounce, team options and non-guaranteed salaries.

These numbers are potentially what teams could have to spend this summer if all this comes into fruition as of Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET.

Enjoy.

NBA rumors: Paolo Banchero, Deandre Ayton, Jalen Brunson, Tyus Jones, Vasilije Micic

A flurry of trades at the NBA Draft had ramifications that’ll affect the top free agents on the market, including Deandre Ayton, Jalen Brunson, Tyus Jones, and others.

Below is the latest intel gathered by HoopsHype on what’s next for Ayton, Brunson, Jones, and behind the scenes of how Paolo Banchero learned he’d be the top overall pick.

Aggregate NBA mock draft 7.0: Ousmane Dieng moves into lottery, Jalen Williams top 20; trade talks

The NBA Draft is less than a week away, with more potential big trades on the horizon following the Christian Wood acquisition by the Dallas Mavericks, as noted throughout our new HoopsHype aggregate mock draft.

To get a better projection of where all of the projected top prospects stand currently, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, The Ringer, Sports Illustrated, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo, Basketball News, and USA TODAY’s For The Win.

The most notable risers within the projected lottery selections included Dyson Daniels moving up further within the top 10 picks, Ousmane Dieng becoming a projected lottery pick, and Jalen Williams vaulting into the Top 20 range. Jake LaRavia and Dalen Terry, two of the biggest risers throughout the draft process, have moved into the late first round.

Other risers in the second round include Ryan Rollins, Andrew Nembhard, David Roddy, John Butler, Michael Foster, Gabriele Procida, and Dereon Seabron.

The notable name that fell was MarJon Beauchamp, who now is projected outside the top 20 picks despite receiving a green room invite. Josh Minott and Jean Montero were among those whose stock fell in the second round.

NOTE: These rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for the overall consensus, not our own opinion. For example, if a player was the first pick on a publication’s mock draft, he received 58 points. If a player was second, he received 57 points and so on. We then tabulated the total number of points for each player’s consensus ranking. 

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report

Aggregate NBA mock draft 6.0: Dyson Daniels moves into top 10; Christian Wood trade rumors

Following the withdrawals of several prospects, the aggregate NBA mock draft has shifted noticeably, and more intel on teams have surfaced with the draft nearing.

To get a better projection of where all of the projected top prospects stand currently, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, The Ringer, Sports Illustrated, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo, Basketball News, and USA TODAY’s For The Win.

The most notable risers within the projected lottery selections included Keegan Murray leaping Shaedon Sharpe into the top five range, Dyson Daniels entering the top 10, and Malaki Branham cracking the end of the lottery. Dalen Terry also vaulted 12 spots since our last aggregate mock draft and is currently positioned as an early second-round pick.

Some of the more notable names that fell slightly included TyTy Washington, Max Christie and Leonard Miller.

NOTE: These rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for the overall consensus, not our own opinion. For example, if a player was the first pick on a publication’s mock draft, he received 58 points. If a player was second, he received 57 points and so on. We then tabulated the total number of points for each player’s consensus ranking.

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report