The Magic learned a tough lesson this season. Sometimes, you can find the seemingly perfect fit in the offseason, and it just does not work out right away. That’s what happened with the Magic and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
In the 2024 offseason, the Magic were looking for a player, who could space the floor, had championship experience, and would not jeopardize the team’s defensive identity. Caldwell-Pope fits that description perfectly. He already has two championships on his resume, is known as one of the best guard defenders in the league, and shot over 38 percent from three for five consecutive seasons before coming to Orlando.
When the Magic signed Caldwell-Pope, fans quickly got their hopes up. The veteran’s shooting has not met the expectations. He is currently shooting only 34.3 percent on 4.4 3-point attempts per game for the season. He only shot worse than that twice in his career.
Recently, that has looked much better—just after Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon discussed the signing as one of the worst ones of the offseason on the Game Theory Podcast.
Caldwell-Pope could not miss in the last two games
The Magic’s 96-87 loss to the LA Clippers was not great, but there was a bright side to it. Caldwell-Pope hit all of his three-point attempts on his way to 11 points. For a team desperately in need of spacing, that was huge.
Then, Caldwell-Pope followed up his game against the Clippers with a 7-9 performance from three against the San Antonio Spurs. This is the Caldwell-Pope the Magic were hoping to get when they signed him in the offseason. Hitting threes and spacing the floor around Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner was what the Magic signed him to do.
Caldwell-Pope’s struggles throughout the season may have been disappointing, but at least he seems to be finding his touch to close out the season—just at the right time. The Magic still have five games left and need every win they can get to finish the season ahead of the Atlanta Hawks in the standings. They will have to fight their way through the Play-In Tournament, but might as well go into the first game as the seventh seed and with all the advantages possible.
With all of the injuries, it would have been easy to write this season off as a lost season for the Magic, but there is still plenty left to fight for. Even if it does not result in a win, playing a first-round series matters immensely to this team. The young core needs as much playoff experience as possible. Caldwell-Pope will be a big part of getting them there.