ORLANDO – Long before the Orlando Magic made a blockbuster deal with the Memphis Grizzlies for Desmond Bane, the franchise had already made a positive impression on the 6-foot-5 guard.

Going up against Orlando twice a season, Bane marveled at the defensive-minded, no-quit nature of the club. When the Magic debuted the AdventHealth Training Center in 2022, the TCU alum tweeted “THIS IS WHAT WE NEED,” in Memphis. And when his agent approached him at the start of the offseason to provide a list of clubs he’d like to go to if a trade scenario came up, Bane put Orlando at the top of his list.

In a twist of fate, it just so happened as that very scenario was about to play out, Bane was vacationing in Destin, Florida.

So, when the Magic pulled the trigger for the five-year pro in exchange for Cole Anthony, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, four first-round picks and a swap, Bane was all smiles.

“I’m super excited to be here,” he explained. “All the guys, they’ve reached out and hit me up. The front office, the support staff – everybody has been real, real supportive. You can tell there’s an excitement in the air as well as expectations. Expectations are healthy. I feel like we have the roster to be able to do some really special things.”

Bane appears to be the perfect fit to Orlando’s roster puzzle. He not only averaged over 19 points per game in each of the last three seasons, but is also a career 41.0 percent shooter from 3-point range. That’s exactly what’s needed for an Orlando unit that shot a league-low 31.8 percent from long range over the course of the 2024-25 season.

“The guy is almost the player you would design if you could start from scratch,” Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman said. “Desmond is such a unique player because he’s one of the best shooters in the NBA. But he’s also a gifted playmaker. He generates shot creation for himself and for others. He creates advantages with and without the ball. High IQ player.”

The trade now gives Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley four players in his starting unit – Jalen Suggs, Bane, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero – that can take the ball up the court and create a shot for themselves or others. That should allow Orlando to play faster and make it extremely difficult for opponents to hide their weakest defender.

“His ability to shoot the basketball and create his own shot and handle the basketball in different areas,” said Mosley of his new guard. “His ability to make quick plays, quick decisions. And (create) spacing on the floor for those guys to allow (them) to get to the basket. He’s used to playing fast. That’s what we’ve talked about – being able to speed our game up. So, his ability to do that. He’ll fit right in.”

Just as the Magic view Bane as a player that checks all the boxes, he views the franchise as an ideal fit for what he’s looking for in an organization – especially with the team’s defense-first mindset.

“That’s my DNA,” Bane explained. “I’m a gritty guy. That’s how I’ve made it to this point. You look up and down the roster and we all have similar make ups. Their arms might be a little longer than mine (laughter), but apart from that we’re very aligned.”

As he toured the AdventHealth Training Center on Monday and Tuesday, the facility lived up to the hype and met the expectations of a player who marveled at it from afar with a tweet from nearly three years ago.

“It’s different, bro,” Bane explained. “This is a breath of fresh air. You literally can step outside, get a breath of fresh air, and eat on the patio. There’s an indoor-outdoor training facility. All the bells and whistles are in here and it’s great. But I feel like the people are really what’s going to make this place special.”

It’s not lost on Bane that this is a new chapter for him and for the organization itself. The team recently unveiled new logos and uniforms, and he donned those threads for his introductory media interview.

“It’s super exciting,” he said as he looked down at the new white Magic jersey. “It’s a new era. Make some new memories and help push this thing forward back to the success they had in the past.”

To help make that a reality, Bane plans to schedule time to meet up with Banchero and other teammates in an effort to get together before training camp gets underway. He believes if they can continue to foster a well-connected locker room that they have the talent to contend.

“If you just look at our roster and our team, we stack right up there with anybody,” he said.

Now, not only with talent, but with roster fit as well.

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