Desmond Bane achieves something reminiscent of Dwight Howard

Desmond Bane becomes first Magic player since 2010 Dwight to start every game of regular season

Move over super man, there's a new Magic iron man in town.

Bane is the first Orlando player since 2009-10 Dwight Howard to start all 82 games for the Magic.

Though, in fairness to Dwight, that was Howard's fourth time achieving a feat that's hard to do once.

Orlando Magic reporter Kendra Douglas shared on the broadcast how much this achievement means to Bane, who told her that playing in every game for the Magic has been a goal from the very start of the season, and now it's the accomplishment he’s most proud of since entering the league.


In the final Is This Anything of the 2025-26 Orlando Magic season, the truck rang the bell for good reason: David Steele asked Jeff Turner if this was anything – listing off every player in Orlando's franchise history to start in all 82 games in a Magic season:



Dwight Howard (4x)
Penny Hardaway (2x)
Greg Kite
Dennis Scott
Darrell Armstong
Hedo Turkoglu
Desmond Bane

Bane didn't quite reach the coveted 50-40-90 club and the even rarer group who averaged 20 PPG while doing it, but he was darn close.

While Bane's night-to-night scoring can feel a little up and down, its the games he drives to the rack hunting AND1s that stand out just as much as the nights he hits tons of threes.

There's room for Bane to launch an even higher volume of threes going forward, but for a team missing its downhill driving shot creators in Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black, and Paolo Banchero so often throughout the season, this Magic offense relied on Bane's drives for scoring at the rim and drive-and-kick playmaking creation looks for others just as much as his shooting.

This is one example of why you trade picks for a scalable star who is generally dependable when it comes to being available – the team can rely on him when others are out and also increase his ideal shot diet and 3pt volume when everyone's available creating advantages for each other.

The availability of Bane has given Orlando's offense one of its steadiest hands all season, with the veteran guard commanding the floor at will any time it's needed.

Slowly feeling out his role with this team to start the year with a veteran point guard mindset who picked his spots, it eventually clicked that Bane should be shooting 3pt jumpers first, looking to score second, and asking questions third when it came to what this team needed most.

The Magic needed Bane's shooting gravity, downhill scoring gravity, and team-first shot creation generating looks at the rim and from beyond the arc.

What makes Bane's game not just available, but reliable, is not necessarily just his outlier-elite 3pt shooting, but his driving ability. While that shooting gravity is Bane's most powerful defense-bending skill to stretch the floor on and off the ball, even a sniper as efficient as him has to deal with the hot and cold volatility of three-point shooting.

When Bane counters his 3ball with attacking the rack and stays hunting contact, looking to hit first with a bump-and-finish mindset, penetrating the paint with driving finishes, dumpoff passes, and 3pt kickouts, he provides reliable shot creation for this Magic offense no matter who else is on the floor.

The next step for this Magic offense to reach its final form will look to maximize Bane's availability, shooting gravity, downhill driving scoring gravity, and reliable team-first shot creation playmaking into one of the best scorers and shooters in the league by volume while maintaining his nuclear efficiency.