The Orlando Magic’s season has been over for weeks now after falling to the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, which means that their key players can be evaluated for their performance during their 2025-26 campaign.

For Law Murray of The Athletic, that process has already begun, even for players whose seasons are ongoing.

Murray recently released his 'NBA Players Tiers 2026’ list, and he has included all of the Magic's four players in the first four tiers. I have taken the time to provide those rankings through my articles to Magic fans who are not subscribed to The Athletic while providing my own analysis, agreements and disagreements with Murray on his rankings.

So far, I have reacted to Murray’s rankings for Paolo Banchero, Desmond Bane and Franz Wagner, and that leaves just one player: Jalen Suggs.

Suggs fell into Murray’s 4B category on the 2026 list. As I mentioned in previous articles, Murray’s system accounts for the top 100 players in the league and breaks them into four tiers, which are then categorized into subdivisions based on letter (A-E). He also has a fifth tier for players who fall outside the top 100.

For Suggs, this is a great improvement, as he previously fell into the 4F tier during Murray’s 2025 rankings. Suggs occupies the space with Jrue Holiday, Josh Giddey, Devin Vassell and Michael Porter Jr.

Additionally, Suggs is grouped alongside Holiday and Giddey as point guards that have "been asked to do other things other than be traditional point guards," according to Murray.

This isn’t anything new for Suggs, however, as his time in the league has not been reflective of being a traditional point guard. While he is a decent facilitator and can certainly set up the offense, he is not a true floor general. 

In 2025-26, Suggs took a strong jump from averaging 3.7 assists to 5.5 assists, a career-high mark, which is certainly worth recognizing. However, his traits are more in line with a shooting guard that is defined by tenacious defense. 

Murray makes a strong point in saying that Suggs is "a lot like Holiday in that he’s a point guard who fits with other primary playmakers so that he can wreak havoc elsewhere." Desmond Bane is capable of handling the ball and running the offense, as are Banchero and Wagner. This provides Suggs the opportunity to do what he does best by defending at a high level at the point of attack and maximizing situations on offense that are beneficial to his skill set.

Murray is also correct in criticizing Suggs’ struggles offensively and a jump shot that can fall apart. Games 5-7 against the Pistons were a travesty for Suggs, and he only averaged 11.1 points on 29.9% shooting throughout the series after a hot start in Game 1. 

It got to a point where Suggs was struggling so severely that it turned into a four-on-five matchup for the Magic, which put more pressure on a team with an average offense.

Overall, Suggs had a solid year and was relatively available given his injury history. I am rather shocked to see Suggs take such a leap in Murray’s rankings. But in a way, he is deserving.

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