Magic have built their roster using the Celtics' blueprint

The Orlando Magic defied expectations last season, finishing with an impressive 47-35 record and pushing the Cleveland Cavaliers to a hard-fought seven-game series in the first round of the playoffs before bowing out. 

Now, in 2024-25, the Magic are at it again. Despite losing their top player and rising superstar, Paolo Banchero, to an oblique tear after just five games, they have surged to an 11-7 start, placing them third in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Magic are emerging as a dominant force in the league, emulating the Celtics’ roster construction.

Boston boasts the NBA’s premier wing tandem in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, two max-contract superstars who excel with their outstanding two-way play. Similarly, the Magic have their own imposing forward duo in Banchero and Franz Wagner — two rising stars who might already rank as the league’s second-best wing pairing.

Like Tatum and Brown, Banchero and Wagner showcase exceptional all-around skill sets. Both athletes can attack the rim, score efficiently from the mid-range and connect from beyond the arc. They’re also stuffing the stat sheet — each averaging over five assists, five rebounds and at least 1.8 deflections per game — all while excelling in one-on-one defense. With no glaring weaknesses in their games and reputations as offseason gym rats, they’re putting in the work to morph into top-20 players.

What sets the Celtics apart is their defensive-minded backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, two relentless ballhawks who disrupt opposing guards and seamlessly switch onto bigger players, holding their own in the post. Similarly, the Magic boast an impressive defensive duo in Jalen Suggs and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. 

Suggs has emerged as arguably the toughest point-of-attack defender in the league — a point guard who puts his assignments in jail, picking them up full court and completely mucking up opposing offensive schemes. This season alone, he’s held Ja Morant, Dennis Schroder, Dalton Knecht, Kyle Lowry, Desmond Bane and Amir Coffey to a combined 0.0 percent shooting on at least 10 possessions each. 

Meanwhile, Caldwell-Pope is a true workaholic on the less glamorous end. Always on the go, he’s relentless as one of the best-conditioned athletes in the NBA. There are no open looks against him. 

While the Magic might have a slight edge over the Celtics defensively, the most significant gap between these two teams lies on the other end. With the league’s third-ranked offense, Boston thrives on a barrage of threes, launching 50.5 per game at a 37.1 percent clip. Conversely, the Magic rank 25th in offensive efficiency, weighed down by a league-worst 30.9 percent mark from beyond the arc.

Despite their current struggles, Wagner and Banchero have shown consistent year-over-year improvement from beyond the arc, with both shooting over 34.0 percent from deep in 2024-25. Caldwell-Pope, while off to a rough start from three, is a proven sharpshooter who connected on over 40 percent of his attempts in Denver over the past two seasons. Given that he’s still generating nearly the same volume of wide-open looks as last year, his early season slump is likely temporary.

Although he’s experiencing a dip in his three-point percentage this season, Suggs shot a promising 39.7 percent last year and boasts a near-perfect 92.2 percent free-throw rate, suggesting his mechanics are sound. Furthermore, Moritz Wagner provides reliable downtown shooting from the center position, and rookie Tristan da Silva has shown flashes of his smooth stroke from deep.

Using the Celtics' blueprint, the Magic are building their path to contention. Orlando is primed to become a force in the East with a dynamic wing duo in Banchero and Wagner, a solid backcourt and a bench with solid offensive firepower.