{"id":844853,"date":"2026-09-12T03:40:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T03:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/844853\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T03:40:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T03:40:32","slug":"hanifans-offseason-outlook-evaluating-the-orlando-magics-2026-offseason-hot-hot-hoops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/844853\/","title":{"rendered":"Hanifan\u2019s offseason outlook: Evaluating the Orlando Magic&#8217;s 2026 offseason &#8211; Hot Hot Hoops"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-01-28-10.54PM-edited.jpg\" alt=\"Heat Magic\" class=\"wp-image-14584\"  \/>(Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">The calendar has turned to September. You know what that means, right?! Our offseason outlook series is back for the third-straight year!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Hot Hot Hoops senior writer Matt Hanifan will provide his take on the offseasons of all 30 teams for the next 30 days! We will be going in alphabetical order, beginning with the Eastern Conference. Today, we will look at the Indiana Pacers\u2019 summer!<\/p>\n<p>Previous offseason outlooks:<\/p>\n<p>Evaluating the Orlando Magic\u2019s 2026 offseason:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additions:\u00a0Nikola Vucevic<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Subtractions:\u00a0Jett Howard, Moe Wagner<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Re-signed:\u00a0Izaiyah Nelson (No. 51 overall)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Draft:\u00a0Jevon Carter, Jonathan Isaac<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hanifan\u2019s outlook:\u00a0You\u2019d be hard-pressed to find a team that had a quieter offseason than the Orlando Magic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest change was on the sidelines: Orlando fired head coach Jamahl Mosley after blowing a 3-1 lead to the top-seeded Detroit Pistons, and hired San Antonio Spurs assistant (defensive coordinator) Sean Sweeney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Magic retained their core, led by Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane, who only played a combined 30 games together last year. They also kept Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black \u2014 who remains extension-eligible \u2014 and Wendell Carter Jr.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I couldn\u2019t fathom the Jonathan Isaac reunion. The Magic could have waived and stretched the soon-to-be 29-year-old and saved over $13 million. Instead, they kept Isaac\u2019s $8 million dead cap, and re-signed him for the league minimum, shortening their already-thin flexibility.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Magic\u2019s most recent draft choice, Izaiyah Nelson, is a facsimile of Isaac. Unfortunately, though, Nelson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;opi=89978449&amp;url=https:\/\/x.com\/OrlandoMagic\/status\/2076681848986435686&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi2g4e4_ueWAxVwOjQIHer9I1cQFnoECDwQAQ&amp;usg=AOvVaw1M1lcLw9ucZGjEkNDZqR2w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">broke his foot <\/a>in Summer League and could miss the first 1-2 months of the season. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think the Magic will be healthier this season; it\u2019s difficult to be less healthy than they have been the last several seasons. But they made a sizable bet on their core. If Sweeney can unlock Paolo Banchero and Co. offensively, Orlando will be dangerous.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grade:\u00a0C-<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">***<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To check out our other content, click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hothothoops.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter\/X\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hothothoops?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hothothoops?fbclid=PAAaZK-uxa3cMPUQcM2z6aGmK3faJ-G1R7YKtEOcPJNPO4VwfOvw1epBIoCyk_aem_Ad_aZ7zQwWkfVN5rHfd0UkIWrYEnU4j4Ulz0SRK__Qt1738L-NeQ3cZC5voFks7V6K8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Subscribe to our YouTube channel\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hothothoops\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images) The calendar has turned to September. You know what that means, right?!&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-844853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}