2025 Orlando Magic Season Review: What Went Right - The culture of November and December
The Orlando Magic built a culture that thrived on supreme effort and intensity. That carried them through some bleak times and created a culture to win in November and December.
The Orlando Magic's season seemed like it was going to go off the rails when Franz Wagner joined Paolo Banchero on the shelf with a torn oblique in early December. When Banchero went out, everyone simply hoped to hold the boat steady until his return in late December or early January.
The Magic were on their back foot from the beginning of the season. All the hopes and dreams for the season came apart, it seemed, with Banchero's injury, and then again when Wagner got hurt with how he carried the season.
As everyone looks back at the season and how the Magic got to 41-41 and stayed in the Playoffs as the 7-seed, it is a minor miracle that they survived all the things they survived through the course of the season. It is a signal of the culture they built throughout their three years together.
Orlando would not have made the Playoffs this year without the experience gained from last year, and the team would not have made the playoffs without the trust they have in each other, their coaches, and what they do.
The rallying cry throughout this time of the year was: "We are enough."
Plainly, it was not. Eventually, they ran out of gas. Eventually, the team broke down.
But this irrational belief and confidence were a sign of how healthy this team's culture is and what they potentially can build. As the Magic stare down an offseason that will see changes to the roster, trying to preserve this culture, feistiness and confidence is going to be everything. That is the biggest risk of the offseason.