When the Orlando Magic burst into the Eastern Conference’s playoff scene a season ago, everyone saw the young, up-and-coming Magic as overachievers.

Orlando came out of the gates hot and found itself hanging with the big boys at the top of the conference. Most considered the honeymoon-like phase to be just that – a phase, figuring the Magic would resign itself back to the bottom half of the conference.

It wasn’t the first time the Magic had assembled a team with young talent and potential. But it was the first time it didn’t fade.

The Magic’s 47 wins and fifth-seed finish were the best marks in over a decade, dating back to the 2010-11 season. By all accounts, Orlando – a team that opened with +25000 odds to win an NBA title and an over-under of 37.5 wins – finished in better standing than most predicted. But that’s where the hurdle-hopping stopped.

The Magic’s staunch defense, its most identifiable trait, could only do so much to cover for the offensive struggles of the team as a whole. Orlando fell in seven games to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round – a familiar feeling for the franchise residing at 400 W Church Street.

Since a two-year stretch in 2009 and 2010 saw an NBA Finals and Eastern Conference Finals finish, the Magic have yet to make it out of the first round of the playoffs in five opportunities since. Atlanta, Indiana, Toronto, Milwaukee and Cleveland have all sent the Magic packing in its last five trips to the postseason.

By the time the playoffs roll around this upcoming April, Orlando will be looking to win its first postseason series in 15 years. Given the roster construction, this Magic team may have the best shot of doing so, on paper, of any team during that span. And until action can resume and there are results to analyze that statement’s truth, paper projections will have to do.

Ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season, that’s likely the most realistic goal the Magic can tangibly attain, as Eddie Bitar of Fadeaway World writes. But can Orlando aim higher? It certainly thinks so.

Paolo Banchero’s appearance at Fanatics Fan Fest made headlines when, on ESPN’s First Take, the Magic’s No. 1 overall draft pick in 2022 lauded his squad has the feeling that they’re right on the cusp of contention among the East’s elites. Wendell Carter Jr. told reporters at a charity event that while the Magic first landed on everyone’s radar last year, they’re primed to take another step. Earlier in the summer at an event of his own, Cole Anthony expressed the same sentiment.

As a squad, the confidence that more than a playoff series victory is on the table. Partly, one could sensibly reason that everyone feels good about their chances in the offseason and that you’d never hear anything else regarding their own outlook on what they want to accomplish. But there’s a genuine sense of trust that seems to emanate from the Magic’s belief in its process – not only to how they got here, but to how much further it can go.

Many contenders got better around the East. While Boston will have some injury management to contend with, it returns everyone important from a dominant title-winning team a season ago. Milwaukee and Cleveland were each bit by the injury bug early and often last season but still tread water, and they both return this season healthy and ready to compete once again.

New York took another step into transitioning into Villanova-Midtown Manhattan campus with the addition of Mikal Bridges, Philadelphia added nine-time All-Star Paul George, and Indiana is heading into the first full season of the Tyrese Haliburton-Pascal Siakam duo – which already made a surprise Eastern Conference Finals trip last year.

The Magic’s young core is certainly well-positioned for the future, and Orlando has the flexibility to make further moves should it so choose. So, while the Magic certainly figure to compete this year, the window for true contention may still be delayed another year.

That’s not to say an All-NBA caliber season from Paolo Banchero and more improvement from Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and the others of the Magic’s young core couldn’t pry it open sooner. A 50-win season is absolutely a plausible outcome that Orlando can set up for itself if things shake right, which would again change the way the Magic are perceived throughout the league.

Many teams know the Magic are no longer the pushover they spent most of the 2010s as, but rather as a very real and emerging talent in the East. Perhaps a further ascension wouldn’t be a surprise to the caliber of last year’s emergence back into the playoff scene.

Until then, Orlando must first check boxes in a bit more sequential fashion. This season, that entails dealing with the pressure that comes with having outside expectations and attention on your every move heightened. It means taking care of business throughout the regular season and positioning itself for postseason success.

And, of course, it would mean finally seeing the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time since the Magic’s core was starting grade school. Would anything further than that be considered a success is a question only Orlando could answer, but when it comes to plotting out a realistic goal to shoot for this upcoming NBA season, that feels most prevalent.

Head coach Jamahl Mosley and his Magic begin their quest to do just that with training camp, beginning Oct. 1 in Orlando.

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