MIAMI – For the Orlando Magic, the 2024-25 NBA regular season opens right away against a fierce rival.
The Magic visits its Floridian neighbor on Wednesday night, making the short trip down to Miami to battle the Heat in a Southeast division showdown.
One game separated the Magic and Heat in the 2023-24 East standings, enough to be the difference in a guaranteed playoff spot and having to earn a first round appearance through the Play-In Tournament. But Wednesday’s contest wipes the slate clean, being the first step in Orlando’s 82-game run to defend the franchise’s seventh-ever division crown. The Magic are striving for new heights this year, and with preseason in the rearview mirror for good, Orlando is eager for the games to start counting for real.
Not just because its against one of the team’s deepest rivals. But simply because Miami wears a different color jersey than their own.
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“How exciting to get to go down to Miami game one, right down the road, with a team that we know is going to give us a challenge both mentally and physically,” guard Jalen Suggs said, fresh off his contract extension with the team a day earlier. “Really excited to… start playing real, meaningful games, Not that the preseason ones weren’t, but it’s different. These ones count. You can’t get them back.”
Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs (4) looks to pass the ball as Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) defends during the second half at Kaseya Center. / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
“Everybody’s excited to get the season underway,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said at Tuesday’s practice, the final one before his team hit the tarmac. “It’s about time.”
Orlando’s group hitting the floor Wednesday night will look similar to years past. The reason? The Magic’s continuity has bred more success the longer they’ve been together, and calculated external additions have come together on a basis of need.
That’s why this group feels it’s afforded the ability to dream bigger and aim higher in the grand scheme of the Eastern Conference. As a collective, the same core has carried the Magic from nobody to somebody in the league’s big picture in quick succession. But Orlando doesn’t want just a cup of coffee with the league’s elites – they feel they’ve earned a seat at the table.
“I think we’re prepared,” forward Franz Wagner said. “I think obviously with more years of playing together, I think we’re further ahead than the last couple of years.”
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The Magic left it to the end before securing a spot in the playoffs last year, defeating Milwaukee to earn the fifth seed on the regular season’s final day. Upon reflection, that’s a spot Suggs said Tuesday that Orlando felt it “really didn’t have to be in.”
Given how they’re approaching this year and considering the additional seasoning the Magic have together, sustaining the string of success or, better yet, improving upon it is a real possibility Orlando can foresee playing out.
At least, that’s what indications throughout training camp told Mosley.
“I keep going back to how well they’re communicating with each other,” Mosley said. “Knowing the ups and downs and what’s going to happen throughout the season, they’ve communicated a lot of that already.
“I think that’s been the biggest point for these guys. Knowing exactly what we’re facing and how we have to go about it and how we’ll approach it with a mindset of believing what we’re capable of doing, and then stepping on the floor every night and proving it.”
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Orlando’s road start is a taste of what’s to come early in the year. The Magic, among the NBA’s strongest groups at home while experiencing their fair share of struggles away from Orlando last year, play the role of visitor in 16 of its first 26 games this season. To make those aspirations come true of exceeding last year’s high marks, they’ll have to overcome the latter at a higher success rate.
“Getting off to the right start is something that we’ve spoke about, something that we believe in,” Suggs said. “Everybody’s mind is fully focused on the game and getting this thing rolling.”
Orlando Magic
No injuries to report.
Miami Heat
Josh Richardson: OUT (illness/left heel)
Who: Orlando Magic vs. Miami Heat When: Wednesday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET Where: Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida Latest Line: Miami minus-2, o/u 208.5
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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — A man is facing new charges connected to the fatal shooting of a teenager in 2019.
Warren Pollock, 25, has been charged with murder and attempted murder in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Rodney Hinds Jr.
According to police, surveillance video captured Pollock shooting into a car parked at the Shell gas station on the corner of Northwest 183rd Street and Eighth Avenue back on Saturday, October 26 of 2019 just before 1 a.m.
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Authorities said new evidence led detectives to Pollock, who was already in custody for an unrelated murder case.
He remains behind bars at the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail on no bond.
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David Dwork
David Dwork joined the WPLG Local 10 News team in August 2019. Born and raised in Miami-Dade County, David has covered South Florida sports since 2007.
It was the blockbuster deal of the NBA offseason: After years of will-he/won’t-he, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has been traded to Miami.
It also feels like the first domino of what will be some other big moves — including possibly a Jaylen Brown bidding war and trade. At NBC, we’ve explained the Antetokounmpo trade, named its winners and losers, and broken down how it will impact fantasy teams. Still, the fallout from this trade just keeps coming. Here are some other notes and analysis surrounding Antetokounmpo’s move to Miami.
Jaylen Brown bidding war?
Boston tried to say, “We weren’t shopping Brown, it was only because this was Giannis Antetokounmpo.” Except a few years back, they said the same thing when Brown was rumored to be part of a trade offer for Kevin Durant. From Brown’s perspective, you don’t want to be the person in the relationship where your partner is always looking around for an upgrade.
Other teams are expecting Boston to make Brown available, and there could be a bidding war, something articulated well by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on the network’s “Get Up.”
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“What I expect to happenis a bidding war for Jaylen Brown. In the most recent days, teams have been preparing for this eventuality, that it wouldn’t be the Boston Celtics who won the Giannis sweepstakes and that there would be a Jaylen Brown market. And now we’re going to watch that. I think it’ll take time to play out.”
If Brown becomes available, look for Houston and Atlanta to be at the front of the line for him, with a number of other teams — Portland has said it’s interested — in the mix. The challenge will be matching his salary, which is $57.1 million next season and totals about $183 million over the next three years. Brown is coming off his best season as a pro, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.
Boston kept young players out
Why did Milwaukee ultimately choose the Miami offer over Boston? In part because, while Brown would have been the best individual player the Bucks could have gotten in return, they wanted more — specifically a young player like Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez, and Boston would not put them in the offer, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
Boston’s final offer was Brown and two unprotected first-round picks. Milwaukee preferred Miami’s offer… or at least one key person did.
Bucks co-owner Haslam pushed for Miami trade
Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam also owns the NFL’s Cleveland Browns — a team that dealt with a trade demand from future Hall of Famer Myles Garrett. Then came the Antetokounmpo saga with the Bucks.
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That led Haslam to push for the “certainty” of the Miami offer because he didn’t want to see Brown come to Milwaukee and force his way out in a couple of years, something Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports reported right after the trade went down.
Report: Haslam a ‘driving force’ in Giannis trade
Mike Florio looks at Jimmy Haslam’s reported role in the blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo trade and analyzes Haslam’s involvement as owner of the Cleveland Browns.
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That was a concern of others in the Milwaukee front office, reports Sam Amick and Eric Nehm at The Athletic, who add there had been signs in recent weeks that Brown didn’t really want to land in Milwaukee.
Herro happy
Brown may not have wanted to go to Milwaukee, but Tyler Herro — who is a Milwaukee native — is excited to go home in the trade, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes.
Sources: Tyler Herro is thrilled about a fresh start and playing for his hometown team the Milwaukee Bucks. Herro always envisioned returning home at some point during his NBA career.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 23, 2026
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Except Herro may not be staying in Milwaukee—there are multiple reports that the Bucks are listening to offers to trade him again. At the front of that line may be Detroit, which is looking for shooting and secondary ball-handling to pair with Cade Cunningham, and Herro fits that bill.
Is Anthony Edwards next?
Once one superstar is traded, the insatiable NBA trade rumor machine starts looking for the next star who might be on the move.
Is it about to be Anthony Edwards’ turn in the spotlight? ESPN’s Tim MacMahon said on the latest Hoop Collective Podcast, “The NBA vultures are swirling around Ant in anticipation of him potentially becoming the next superstar who’s available in the trade market.” Multiple reports in recent years have said Edwards has been frustrated with the team building in Minnesota, dating back to when it traded away Karl-Anthony Towns to save money.
This is not happening fast. Minnesota has no intention of trading Edwards right now, and he still has three fully guaranteed years at $156.9 million left on this contract. There is no pressure to move him, and Edwards would deny he is even thinking about leaving.
That said, teams file these kinds of things away and just wait.
Steven Yablonski is a digital content producer for CBS Miami and the South region.
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An investigation is underway after a man was killed in a fiery crash with a truck on the Don Shula Expressway in southwest Miami-Dade early Tuesday morning, according to officials.
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The Florida Highway Patrol said that a white Mercedes coupe was headed south on SR 847 (Don Shula Expressway), near Southwest 104th Street when it crashed into the back of a truck.
A large fire broke out after the crash, and investigators said that the driver of the Mercedes, who was only identified as an adult Hispanic male, died at the scene.
The fiery crash forced officials to shut down the southbound lanes of the roadway, and drivers were being asked to seek an alternate route.
Heavy delays were reported behind the crash, and delays also started to build in the northbound lanes near the scene.
