{"id":413634,"date":"2026-09-29T10:34:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T10:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413634\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T10:34:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T10:34:57","slug":"takeaways-from-media-day-as-orlando-magic-open-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413634\/","title":{"rendered":"Takeaways from media day as Orlando Magic open training camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magic<\/a> president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman<\/a>, new coach Sean Sweeney<\/a> and the entire Orlando<\/a> roster met with the media Monday inside the AdventHealth Training Center.<\/p>\n

The Magic expressed confidence<\/a> about their chances in the Eastern Conference, shared how they spent their offseason following a third consecutive first-round loss in the NBA playoffs and more.<\/p>\n

Here are key takeaways as Orlando opens its first training camp under Sweeney on Tuesday:<\/p>\n

No rush on filling roster<\/p>\n

The Magic enter the season with 14 out of 15 standard contract roster spots filled, but it appears they\u2019ll keep the last spot available for some time.<\/p>\n

Orlando sits only $2.5 million under the league\u2019s second apron, a salary threshold set at $221,686,000 by the collective bargaining agreement. The team has the financial room to sign a player to a minimum contract, depending on their years of experience, but waiting to do so would allow the salary to be pro-rated, meaning it would incur a smaller cap hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have very little flexibility right now,\u201d Weltman said about the team\u2019s financial reality. \u201cSo, we value that 15th roster spot. \u2026 We do have the ability to sign a player, but I think right now, we\u2019re in no rush to just put a player on the roster for the sake of it. We want to see how the team looks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, (the 15th roster spot) is kind of an insurance policy for us, protecting against any injury,\u201d Weltman added. \u201cSo, no immediate plans for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaac not ready yet<\/p>\n

Magic forward Jonathan Isaac ended last season off the court because of a left knee sprain, and he\u2019s still limited entering training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t be fully, completely ready,\u201d Isaac said about the start of camp. \u201cI won\u2019t be in all of the drills, but I\u2019ll be around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaac, who re-signed on a one-year deal this summer after he was waived by the team, missed the final 17 contests last season and the entire postseason because of a left knee sprain suffered in mid-March. He previously missed 2\u00bd years because of various knee injuries, including a torn left ACL.<\/p>\n

\"OrlandoMagic forward Jonathan Isaac answers questions from the Orlando Sentinel during the team\u2019s media day at the AdventHealth Training Center on Monday. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rehab has been a whole process throughout the entire summer of working at it, strengthening all my muscles around the knee, my glutes, all that stuff, and just doing that to get to getting back to playing,\u201d Isaac said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt\u2019s pretty frustrating, but I\u2019m working every day. I\u2019m doing everything that they\u2019re telling me to do and we\u2019re expecting to be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vucevic ready to accept new role<\/p>\n

Of the 985 regular season games Nikola Vucevic has appeared in across the past 14 years, the Magic center has started 942, or more than 95% of them.<\/p>\n

As he returns to the Magic at the age of 35, however, Vucevic understands his role will be different in his second stint with the franchise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve started (games) since my second year in the NBA, all this time, so it\u2019s definitely an adjustment,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s kind of a natural course for most players, eventually, to transition a little bit. And I think there\u2019s a lot of ways that I can still help even in a smaller role, obviously with my experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the way I play is something that this team needs and I can help with that,\u201d he added. \u201cBut also off the court, talking to guys, helping (them) through the ups and downs of the year, helping them with the approach to the game, things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nelson update<\/p>\n

Magic rookie Izaiyah Nelson, who suffered a fracture in his left ankle at Las Vegas Summer League, is \u201cstill probably a month or so\u201d away from participating in live action, Weltman said.<\/p>\n

The timing aligns with the team\u2019s initial expectation for when Nelson would return to basketball activities \u2014 three or four months from when the injury occurred in mid-July. That would be sometime in the October or November.<\/p>\n

Nelson later said he recently got back on the court and is moving around \u201ca little bit, but not doing too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe suffered a tough injury in summer league,\u201d Weltman said. \u201cHe\u2019s a world-class worker. He\u2019s all about (the) team, kind of a remarkable kid, honestly. \u2026 He\u2019s still kind of working on his basic stuff before he gets back to live action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second-round draft pick, who signed a two-way contract with Orlando after finishing his college career at USF, had a positive outlook on the injury rehab.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wasn\u2019t fazed by it,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cI was really actually more happy because I take everything as something that God had planned for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penda shed weight<\/p>\n

Magic forward Noah Penda said he had two goals for himself in the offseason: Get his body ready for his second year in the NBA and work on his shot.<\/p>\n

Rocking a new blonder hairstyle, the French forward appeared slimmer than he did last season, and he confirmed as much.<\/p>\n

Penda said he weighed 260 pounds last season, but was down to 236 when he returned to the team facility this summer. He explained the reasoning behind cutting the weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just based off what I\u2019ve experienced this (past) year in terms of the rhythm (of the game),\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to lose some pounds. I\u2019ve never felt like I really had to, but what was really the turning point for me this (past) season was seeing a couple guys being out of the league after being (drafted in the) first round \u2026 or stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized that the NBA career can be really short,\u201d Penda added. \u201cYou don\u2019t have time to waste on stuff that you can fix earlier in your career. So, I was like, \u2018Let\u2019s just get this done after the first year, and then just stay on that path for the rest of my career.’\u201d<\/p>\n

The Magic play their first preseason game Oct. 7 at Memphis and open the regular season Oct. 21 at home against the Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Pictures: Orlando Magic Media Day 2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman, new coach Sean Sweeney and the entire Orlando roster met with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,76046,110],"class_list":["post-413634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}