A deeper look at Orlando Magic regular-season schedule

When the NBA released the full schedule for the regular season late last week, it meant the Magic and the rest of the league are close to returning to the court as the offseason begins to wind down.

For Orlando, this upcoming year is critical for several players as the franchise enters its third year with Jamahl Mosley leading the way.

In order to get an understanding of how the 2023-24 season could play out in Orlando, it’s worth crunching the numbers and analyzing the data for a deeper look at the Magic’s schedule.

Challenging first half for Orlando

The Magic are the lone team in the league that plays 11 back-to-back games from the start of the season in October leading up to All-Star weekend in mid-February, according to data collected by PositiveResidual.com, a website that focuses on data analytics and visualizations in sports.

There are 14 teams that play 10 back-to-back games in that stretch, eight that play nine back-to-backs and six more that play eight back-to-backs. Minnesota plays the fewest with six back-to-backs.

The Magic also have the hardest strength of schedule before the All-Star break, according to PositiveResidual.com.

In addition to the number of back-to-back games, the Magic also travel quite a bit — they’ll play three more road games than home games ahead of the All-Star break. Their 28 road games (of 53 overall played) are the second most in the league which, in turn, leads to the fifth-most miles traveled (32,262) by the Magic, according to PositiveResidual.com.

Travel could take a toll on the team in January when the Magic play 10 of their 16 games away. That’s followed by three road games to open February. Orlando’s longest road trip will last for five games over nine days, from Jan. 29-Feb. 6.

Magic rewarded with “easier” second half

Orlando has the easiest strength of schedule from All-Star break to the end of the season, according to PositiveResidual.com.

In that stretch of 27 games, the Magic play 15 at home with 12 on the road. The team travels the third fewest miles (11,109) in the league and only takes part in four back-to-back games. The furthest west they travel after the All-Star break is to Houston on April 9.

Specifically in March, the Magic are home for 10 of their 14 games played that month. The next closest month is November with eight home games, and that’s not including Orlando’s trip to Mexico City when the team is technically the “home” team vs. Atlanta.

After a challenging and travel-heavy first half of the season, the Magic will have an opportunity to defend home court as the franchise hopes to be in a position for a playoff push come April.

One way or another, NBA in-season tournament will impact Magic schedule

When the NBA released its schedule, the league didn’t include all 82 games for every team. Instead, just 80 games were listed. That’s because of what will take place during the NBA in-season tournament.

Following four games of group play — the Magic are batched with the Celtics, Bulls, Raptors and Nets — eight teams will advance to the knockout rounds.

The knockout rounds will consist of single-elimination games in the quarterfinals — played in NBA markets Dec. 4-5 — before the semifinals and the championship, which will be played in Las Vegas on Dec. 7 and 9.

Magic open on road for inaugural NBA in-season tournament

On Dec. 6 and 8, when there aren’t in-season tournament games scheduled, the 22 teams that don’t qualify for the knockout stage will each play two regular-season games. The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play a regular-season game Dec. 8.

All of the in-season tournament games — except for the championship matchup — count toward the regular season, the league said.

This all leaves two games to be scheduled between Dec. 4-9.

Could the Magic make a deep run for the NBA Cup and end up in Vegas for multiple days? That wouldn’t be a bad thing but it’s something to consider when taking a look at the team’s schedule and heavy travel in the first half of the season.

Although the in-season championship sits outside the 82-game regular-season schedule, it still would be a game of basketball that’s played this year — meaning two teams will play 83 times before the postseason even if the stats don’t count.

Whether or not Orlando can make things interesting during the in-season tournament, the Magic will have to wait to find out exactly who and where they are playing in early December.

Email Jason Beede at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @therealBeede.