Magic make historic donation to presidential candidate

According to Federal Election Commission filings, the Orlando Magic donated $50K to Never Back Down, a political action committee for DeSantis. SFGate's Alex Shultz reported it could be the largest political contribution ever from an NBA team.

It's not unique that a team owner makes political donations. Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris (who also now owns the Washington Commanders) is a big Republican donor — though he also gave $3,800 to Barack Obama's first presidential campaign. (His company also lent $184 million Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's real estate firm.) That's different from the actual team donating, however.

What is unique is that the Magic, owned by the DeVos family, supported DeSantis. Betsy DeVos, sister-in-law of Magic team governor Dan DeVos, served as Secretary of Education in the Trump Administration until 2021, but the team, and presumably the family, lined up behind Trump's rival DeSantis.

The Magic have also effectively taken sides with DeSantis in his continuing legal and political battle with their Orlando's neighbors at Walt Disney World. Disney opposed the DeSantis-supported HB 1557, also known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.  DeSantis then removed Disney's control over the special investment district that encompasses Disney World, and Disney responded by suing DeSantis and canceling plans for a $1 billion office complex in Orlando.

To complicate matters further, Disney remains the jersey sponsor for the Magic and their partner in community outreach. There's even a special Disney seating section during select home games.

Perhaps the DeVos family is simply hedging their bets by donating to DeSantis, whose term as governor runs until 2027, but it could turn into more ammunition for Trump's complaint that the NBA has become too political, despite him having a team owner's close relative in his cabinet.