The Orlando Magic have turned their season around following a dreadful start. The Eastern Conference feels wide open this year and the Magic are one team who could take advantage of the opportunity. With the team's success, most would think one player has been playing like an All-Star and carrying the team to their current standing but the reality is that Orlando's entire rotation has been playing strong basketball as of late.
ESPN released an article, highlighting the biggest storylines of the season and in the article, writer Zach Kram predicted the Eastern and Western Conference All-Star Game rosters. Kram split the projections into two tiers: "Write it in pen" and "write it in pencil". The first category highlights the Eastern Conference players who are most likely locks to be named to the All-Star Game.
Some of the players in the "write it in pen" category include Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jalen Johnson, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and Jalen Brunson. The "write it in pencil" tier only includes Bam Adebayo, Scottie Barnes and Josh Giddey. There is no inclusion of an Orlando Magic player.
"Orlando is the one team in the East's top 10 without a player on this All-Star list, because it's hard to determine who would make sense to represent the Magic: Desmond Bane endured a horrible, prolonged period before finding his footing, and Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero have lost production due to injuries," the article wrote.
It seems strange to have such a talented roster with a strong record in the East without an All-Star representative but the injuries, along with the inconsistencies early on, have prevented any player from truly sticking out.
Franz Wagner was playing like an All-Star before going down with his ankle injury earlier this month, sidelining him for multiple weeks. He is averaging a strong 22.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists while shooting 49 percent from the field and 36 percent from three-point range. These statistics mostly came with the absence of Paolo Banchero, who missed multiple games in Nov. due to a groin injury. Banchero is having a strong season as well but similar to Wagner, the missed time will prevent him from earning an All-Star nod. Desmond Bane was brought to Orlando to help fix the team's perimeter shooting woes and early on, he seemed to only be making the splits worse. However, he has turned his season around, helping lead the offense during the two young stars' absences.
The Magic are one of the stronger rosters in the NBA but more likely than not will not have an All-Star representative this season.