Last season, the Orlando Magic needed a perimeter shooter and playmaker – someone who could set the game plan and get everyone else easy shots. For most of the season and the playoffs, Jalen Suggs was the team's starting point guard. But that's not his strength. Suggs is neither a game planner nor a great playmaker.

As a result, the brunt of that responsibility fell on the shoulders of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Asking a 21-year-old to be both your primary scorer and your primary playmaker is a lot to ask. Understandably, Banchero sometimes looked tired towards the end of games and struggled with turnovers in the playoffs. Pretty much the entire offense ran through him and it didn't always go smoothly.

Banchero has already expressed his desire to have a table setter join the team to help him facilitate duties, but the front office has not made this a priority during the offseason.

Obviously, the priority was to bring in an experienced two-way player. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope checks a lot of boxes for the Magic and should be able to find his feet quickly. However, he's not much of a playmaker and has averaged 1.8 assists per game in his career.

The Magic have already spent a significant portion of their salary and there aren't many great starting level point guards available as free agents. Tyus Jones would probably be near the top of that list and he doesn't fit the type of big two-way players the Magic generally like. Plus, with the signing of Caldwell-Pope, there isn't really room to sign a starting level point guard.

The Magic most likely don't want either Suggs or Caldwell-Pope as a backup. Suggs is part of the team's core, and the Magic wouldn't have recruited Caldwell-Pope the way they did and would have wasted the chance to sign Paul George or Klay Thompson to be a backup for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

So it seems nearly impossible to get the high-level playmaker that Banchero has been demanding. That means Banchero and Wagner will likely have to bear the brunt of the playmaking responsibilities again unless Suggs and/or Anthony Black make a big leap forward as point guards.

All in all, last season was a success, but expectations for the 2024-25 season are much higher. Winning a playoff series should definitely be a goal for the Magic. If they struggle to build a functioning offense and score points like they did at times last season, that could be difficult.

This team in its current configuration would really benefit from having a playmaker calling the shots, but it looks like they will have to make do without one for now.