With just eight available players Tuesday night against the Raptors, the Magic dropped their fourth straight contest at Scotiabank Arena and their seventh in the last nine games.

After opening the season 21-15 and fourth in the East, Jamahl Mosley‘s squad has fallen to 23-22 and sat eighth entering Wednesday’s slate due to a plethora of injuries to starters and key rotational players.

But all hope is not lost for Orlando.

Rising star forward Franz Wagner was upgraded to questionable Wednesday afternoon for the first time since he suffered a torn right abdominal muscle injury Dec. 6 at Philadelphia. He’s missed 20 games total, including 16 between Dec. 8-Jan. 12 due to the injury itself, but the last four (Jan. 15-21) because of return to competition reconditioning.

“As a team, we’ve dealt with a lot of adversity over the years,” All-Star forward Paolo Banchero said Tuesday night in Toronto. “So it’s not something that we’re not used to. We always find a way to make it out and I’m sure this won’t be any different.

“Even though it looks pretty bad right now, we’ll make it,” he added.

And Banchero is right.

The Magic have been in this position before and they know how to climb out of an injury-driven slump.

When the start of Banchero’s rookie season was plagued by injury, the Magic began the year 5-20. Orlando got healthy and then went 29-24 over its next 53 games until the group was the final team in the East to be mathematically eliminated from the NBA Play-In Tournament.

Then during Banchero’s sophomore campaign when the Magic were hurt with injuries again, they dropped eight out of 11 games in January after starting last season 21-15.

Once Orlando regained roster strength, however, it won 13 of its next 16 and surged in the second half of the season to finish fifth in the East and return to the playoffs for the first time in four years.

Knowing what they’ve gone through in the past, the Magic are aware there’s light at the end of tunnel.

“You want to come away with the win — don’t get it confused — but there’s got to be a lesson in this loss,” coach Jamahl Mosley said Tuesday night. “A big portion of that, one, is once we get bodies back, that will be a big change. Two, we’ve got to understand what exactly was successful in that first half that leads to doing it again in the second half.”

What they did well in the first half against the Raptors was hit 3s (shot 37.5% on 6 of 16 shooting) and limit Toronto’s trips to the free throw line (just 6 of 9).

After the break, however, Orlando shot 3 of 15 from beyond the arc (20%) and sent the Raptors to the charity stripe 19 times (where they converted 12 free throws).

It’s what happens when a team has just eight available players majority of the night and fatigue sets in as the contest progresses. The quality of shots drops and the room for error on defense increases.

Beede’s Breakdown: How shorthanded Magic dropped 4th straight at Toronto

“I can’t speak for everybody, but yeah, actually I can — It’s tough playing with eight dudes, for sure,” Magic guard Anthony Black said. “We’ve got dudes playing also battling different things. It’s definitely always an excuse you can make but just like we’re always saying, we know we’ve got enough so we’re not letting ourselves make that excuse.”

Although Orlando isn’t one to make excuses, the group was without Franz Wagner (return to competition reconditioning), Jalen Suggs (low back strain), Goga Bitadze (concussion protocol), Gary Harris (left hamstring strain), Jett Howard (left ankle sprain), Cole Anthony (illness) and Moe Wagner (left knee torn ACL).

It then lost Jonathan Isaac (illness) in the first quarter and saw Wendell Carter Jr. foul out with just over 3 minutes left in the contest.

But help could be on the way as Orlando returns home to host the Trail Blazers (15-28) on Thursday.

In addition to Franz Wagner, the Magic listed Isaac, Anthony, Howard and Harris all as questionable for the contest. Bitadze was upgraded from out to doubtful, while Suggs remains out.

“Of course we’re happy to get our guys back when they do come back,” Black said. “But right now we’re just focused on trying to stay afloat, get rolling and get some wins going until they come back and we get back into it.”

Jason Beede can be reached at [email protected]

Up next …

Magic vs. Trail Blazers

When: 7, Thursday, Kia Center

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida

Originally Published: January 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM EST