The Magic's Fully Healthy Starting Five is a Spacing Nightmare for the Rest of the League
Underdog NBA reported the starting lineup of Suggs, Bane, Wagner, Banchero, and Carter Jr.
The just announced their starting five for Friday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and it is officially time to panic if you are an opposing defense.
According to Underdog NBA, is rolling out , , , Paolo Banchero, and for the opening tip.
Seeing Bane in an uniform is still a visual adjustment, but the basketball fit is undeniable. He slides into a lineup that has spent the last few years desperately begging for someone who can actually shoot a basketball from outside the paint without hesitating.
The real miracle here is that this specific group of guys is entirely healthy at the exact same time. Suggs and have injury histories that read like a CVS receipt, with Wagner coming off a calf strain that ruined his playoff run last spring. Bane is not exactly an ironman either, having missed massive chunks of the last two seasons with a laundry list of lower-body issues.
For the fantasy managers and prop bettors frantically adjusting their projections, this starting five completely changes the math on the Magic. Banchero no longer has to force contested mid-range jumpers into triple coverage, which perfectly explains how casually dropped 136 points on the earlier this week.
Putting Bane next to Banchero and is objectively hilarious. You cannot send a double-team at your star forward when there is a guy standing in the corner who shoots the lights out and looks like he spends his off days bench-pressing pickup trucks.
We will see how this fully loaded unit handles the Timberwolves tonight as they try to bounce back from a 132-125 shootout loss to the Atlanta Hawks. If this starting five actually manages to avoid the trainer's room, the rest of the Eastern Conference has a massive problem on its hands before heads to New York to play the Knicks on Sunday.