Editor's note: This story was originally published on Nov. 18, 2025.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Franz Wagner had the ball in his hands and his eyes locked on Paolo Banchero.
After blowing a 13-point fourth-quarter lead to the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 10, the Orlando Magic somehow had a chance to turn a collapse into victory.
But Banchero was covered, so Wagner turned his head and found an option who wasn't there a season ago: Desmond Bane came off a screen and buried a twisting, fallaway winning 3-pointer over Toumani Camara's outstretched hand at the horn. Bane's first career buzzer-beater stunned the Blazers -- and was supposed to jump-start the Magic's season.
Banchero lifted the guard into the air. Magic players sprinted from the bench and mobbed Bane as if the guard had just hit a winner in the NBA Finals.
It felt like a turning point.
"It just can ignite us," Banchero said.
That shot, that moment, was why the Magic traded four unprotected first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony to pry the coveted 27-year-old shooter from the Memphis Grizzlies last summer.
After consecutive first-round exits and an injury-plagued season for the Magic, the front office pushed its chips in to go for it in an open Eastern Conference. Carrying expectations to get to the second round or better for the first time since 2011, Orlando's 1-4 start put pressure on head coach Jamahl Mosley, his staff and the players to make it work. That pressure is boiling as Orlando tries to avoid missing the postseason when it faces the Charlotte Hornets in the play-in tournament for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video). Injuries and inconsistency have led to an underachieving season and an uncertain offseason of perhaps more change.