After an abysmal 2020-2021 season with a 21-51 record, the Orlando Magic are one of the NBA’s few teams entering a complete rebuild. While the NBA Summer League was a nice test for Orlando’s group of young players, a more reliable test will be the upcoming 2021-2022 NBA Season. The Magic are expected to favor playing time to players such as Markelle Fultz, Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, and Wendell Carter Jr. to help further develop all of these former first-round picks. Let’s not forget that this will be Jamahl Mosley’s first try with leading a team, so expectations should remain low for Orlando entering this season. So it’s no shocker that the Magic were hoping for an easy schedule filled with home games. While Orlando has their fair share of easy games, the Magic will also face plenty of challenging games throughout the season.
Marquee Matchups to Watch for in the 2021-2022 Season
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As a small-market team, it’s extremely hard for the Magic to find themselves on national television. Despite this, Orlando will partake in three nationally televised games, all of which will air on NBATV. These three games will take place on March 11th against Minnesota, March 17th against Detroit, and March 20th against Oklahoma City. All three of these games will be home games as well. One game to watch for about the storylines is their first game against Scottie Barnes and the Toronto Raptors. This matchup will feature the fourth and fifth pick in the 2021 NBA Draft with Barnes and Suggs and will showcase two of the NBA’s youngest teams. Orlando’s first game against the new-look Spurs in San Antonio will also be a “must-watch” this season.
Breakdown of Orlando’s 2021-2022 NBA Schedule
At first glance, Orlando’s season begins with a nice stretch of easy games. From their opening night game on October 20th to their second matchup with San Antonio on November 5th, Orlando’s most challenging games will be matchups with New York and Miami. Going from this point forward, however, their strength of schedule quickly picks up. From November 7th to November 22nd, the Magic will face Utah, Brooklyn, Washington, Atlanta, New York, and Milwaukee, all playoff teams from last season. What makes this stretch of games worse is that the Magic will play at home in just the first three games. The Magic will have plenty of traveling to do around the country, as have five different streaks of at least three consecutive away games. Luckily, the Magic will end their season off with 15 of their final 20 games being played at the Amway Center.