The Orlando Magic need good production from their reserve players, and in that group is Jamal Cain.
As the 2026-27 NBA season approaches, so much focus is on the best players of the teams that are playoff contenders, and the Orlando Magic are in that mix.
Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane and Jalen Suggs are tasked with a heavy burden to get this Magic team to where they want to go, but a team sport means that everyone will have to step up, including the role players. One such role player is Jamal Cain.
Cain is coming into his fifth NBA season, and second with the Magic, and in the midst of breaking into a role that was productive both tangibly and intangibly last season, Cain's contract was converted to a standard deal after he spent the previous seasons on two-way contracts.
Cain has a chance to prove that he can help this team once again, and Orlando is going to need him to be at his best. Recently, I spoke with my colleague RJ Saunders of 1010XL Magic about Cain's value and what he needs to work on to be successful in the upcoming season. Here is what I had to say:
"Look, I think that Cain is the embodiment of a slow and steady approach. This is a 27-year-old who spent the first four years of his career on two-way contracts before finally getting converted to a standard deal last season, and it's been because of the effort and the grind that he's willing to put in.
He's never gotten complacent. He's never felt like he just naturally belongs. He's always had to go and earn it. And as you said, no one will soon forget that poster over Jalen Duren. That was one of the great dunks of all time in a high-leverage moment, and I think that Cain brings elements that the Magic can use. I mean, he's 6'7", sub-200 pounds. So, he's not a big guy. He's tall, but he's not big. But he plays bigger than his frame and bigger than his position.
He is willing to go crash boards and fight for loose balls, and that type of athleticism, aggression, and effort is what the Orlando Magic love to see in a player, especially a role player. He can also space the floor. He's a good enough three-point shooter. Career 38% — a little bit over that mark. But I do think that, kind of like the other guys, he needs to take another step, and the thing that Kane has working against him is that he doesn't have the benefit of so much youth.
Like, he's still a young guy, but he's not Jase Richardson or Noah Penda [who] just entered their 20s. Like, he's on the back end of that. And so, he was asked to do a lot in the playoffs after Franz went down. He started three of those seven games, and he struggled. I mean, his energy and effort were welcome. But as a shooter, as an offensive presence, he struggled pretty mightily.
And so that's something I talked about earlier in my article is, like, he has to take another step, continue to lean into his strengths, and develop more. And I think that he can become a really, really good reserve role player for this team."
