Coming into the 2023 – 24 season most fan, including myself, expected the Magic to stay far away from the top 6 teams in the East. Ending the previous season at 34 – 48, 7 games away from the 10 seed. My expectations coming into this season was for another slow development year, hoping that Jalen Suggs and Johnny Davis could improve to be at least playable, and that some of the second draft players would show something. Despite my expectations, as of writing this the Orlando Magic have a record of 42 – 30, good for 5th place in the East. Only 1.5 games from 4th place and a guaranteed home playoff series. So, what happened?

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, the two lead offensive engines on the team, and very important to their success this season. Also, some of the unexpected contributions from players like Gogo Bitadze, filling in the starting center role excellently as an injury replacement, and Jalen Suggs not just improving to be playable but being one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. But, for this piece I want to focus on another unexpected reason for the team’s success, the two halves of one of the best rotation front courts in the league, Jonathan Isaac & Moritz Wagner.

Jonathan Isaac – Defense

Isaac being an elite defensive player is no surprise, coming into the league as an athletic lengthy forward in the 2017 -18 season he quickly established an ability to use his physical gifts to be an all-around menace on the defensive end. The only thing holding back his game on the defensive end is injuries. To me it seems anytime he starts to get going and find his groove it leads him to a long term stay on the injured list. It’s bad enough when accounting for the games he would miss, but also thinking about how each of those serious injuries has the opportunity to sap away his athleticism, bit by bit, making it harder and harder for him to come back and be as impactful as before. It’s become such a problem that it seems like every year I account for him not being able to play more than 60 games, and being on a minutes limit in the games he does play. Despite all the set back and bad injury luck, he’s come out this year and continued to play at a high level on the defensive end averaging 1.7 steals and 2.8 blocks per 36 minutes. Looking beyond the simple stats we can see some eye popping On/Off splits, per basketball reference Jonathan Isaac 2023-24 On Off Stats | Basketball-Reference.com in the 768 minutes Isaac has played the Magic are allowing an incredibly low 104.1 opponent offensive rating. While it should be noted these stats are often against other rotation players, getting 15 mins per game where the opponent is that limited offensively is an incredible boost for a team.

Moritz Wagner – Offense

Wagner, the offensive counterpart to Isaac’s defensive contribution, entered the league in the 2018 – 19 season, he bounced around a few teams before finding a spot in the Orlando Magic rotation during the 2020 – 21 season. Due to his lack of impact on the defensive end it’s hard to play significant minutes at center, unless you have someone else who can take on those responsibilities. Luckily the Magic are one of those teams that can play someone next to him to handle the defensive responsibilities, leaving Wagner to focus on his strengths on the offensive end. He isn’t a great 3-pt shooter, only shooting 32% on 2.9 attempts per 36 minutes, but he is great at the other aspects of big man offense. Moving without the ball, running offense out of the high post, finishing dump offs near the basket, etc. Providing another tool the magic can use to organize their offense without Paolo Banchero or Franz Wagner on the floor. Looking at basketball reference Wagner’s On/Off splits show his impact on the offensive end, with the team improving from a 112 offensive rating with him off to a 117 with him on, dropping from a 15.6% turnover % to 14.6%, and improving on assist % from 59.1% to 64%. Not having to drop the quality of your offense when you dig into your rotation is an incredibly valuable and not very common thing in the NBA, getting the contribution from your rotation center is even more rare and valuable.