Jamahl Mosley details Desmond Bane’s surprising influence on Magic’s offense

With the Eastern Conference wide open, the Orlando Magic went all-in this summer. They sent the Memphis Grizzlies four first-round draft picks, plus a pick swap, to acquire Desmond Bane.

The move gave Orlando a core quintet of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Bane. It also addressed a primary problem plaguing the team’s offense: a lack of reliable shooters.

Understandably, the latter received a lot of attention around the move, at least from an on-court perspective compared to the discourse surrounding the price paid to facilitate the deal.

Bane is a career-high 40.7 percent three-point shooter on a career-high 6.2 attempts. This season, however, as he adjusts to his new surroundings, he’s hitting just 33.3 percent of the 4.9 shots he’s hoisting from behind the arc.

Fortunately for the Magic, he shows a less heralded and much improved aspect of what he brings to the table. The sixth-year guard ranks third on the team in drives, attacking downhill 10.4 times per game. In these scenarios, he produces 6.4 points and almost an assist per game. according to NBA.com.

Desmond Bane’s driving style increases Magic’s offense

Before a recent game against the Boston Celtics, Orlando’s head coach, Jamahl Mosley, outlined to Forbes both the reason why Bane drives so often and what he does to fuel his team’s offense.

“Well, you know, the way teams play him, they hold him up top and don’t let him get loose, so his ability to get the ball in the pick-and-roll and make plays is really good for us right now,” Mosley explained.

The Magic haven’t had any luck on the healthcare front. They have played games without their top two centers, Wendell Carter Jr. and Goga Bitadze. Paolo Banchero has missed time. And Jalen Suggs, who underwent season-ending arthroscopic knee surgery in March, has missed games for maintenance reasons.

Bane, who demonstrated his ability to be more offensively dynamic than he was given credit for, has helped Orlando navigate a turbulent start to the campaign. The Magic is 11-8. While that puts them in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings, meaning they would be in the play-in tournament if the season ended today, they are just three games behind the Toronto Raptors, who currently occupy the two seeds.

Orlando has won seven of the last ten tilts. Desmond Bane is a central figure in this. He shows what he can do when another member of the team’s core quartet, such as Banchero, is absent. At the same time, it provides a glimpse into why the Magic can make a run in a wide-open Eastern Conference if that group is intact when the playoffs arrive.