The Orlando Magic outscored the Charlotte Hornets 38-16 in the first quarter Friday night at Kia Center, and nothing that happened in the final three quarters changed what the opening twelve minutes established. Orlando was the better team, and Charlotte's season was over.
The final was 121-90. The Magic advance to face the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Hornets end their season having come closer to the postseason than at any point since 2016 — and having found out Friday that closer is not the same as there.
Paolo Banchero scored 25 points for Orlando, 12 of them in the first quarter on 5-for-7 shooting. Franz Wagner added 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Wendell Carter Jr. contributed 16 points and 6 rebounds. All five Magic starters finished in double figures.
Charlotte shot 34 percent from the field in the first half.
LaMelo Ball was held to 2 points in the first half — foul trouble kept him passive for the first two quarters — and scored 21 in the second half to finish with 23. Ball added 5 assists. Miles Bridges scored 15. Brandon Miller scored 14.
The Hornets trailed 68-37 at halftime — a 31-point margin that was, per NBA records, the largest halftime lead in the six-year history of the Play-In Tournament. The scoreboard was settled well before the third quarter began.
Context
Friday's game was Charlotte's second play-in contest. On Tuesday night at Spectrum Center, the Hornets beat Miami 127-126 in overtime — the franchise's first postseason home win in a decade. That result sent Charlotte to Kia Center to face the Magic, who had lost their first play-in game to the Philadelphia 76ers and earned a second chance under the play-in format. The winner would take the East's 8th seed. The loser would be done.
On Friday night, the Magic won that second chance decisively.
What This Season Was
Charlotte entered 2025-26 with reasonable expectations for a franchise coming out of several consecutive sub-.500 years. They exceeded those expectations in nearly every measurable way.
The regular season ended at 44-38, the best record the Charlotte Hornets have put together since 2015-16. They won nine consecutive games in January and February — the longest winning streak in franchise history since 1998. Kon Knueppel, the 4th overall pick in the 2025 Draft, broke the NBA's all-time rookie three-point record and Charlotte's own franchise three-point record in the same season. LaMelo Ball had his healthiest professional season, averaging 19.7 points and 7.1 assists while passing Dell Curry to move into second place on the franchise's all-time three-point list. Brandon Miller averaged 20.4 points per game in his third NBA season.
The starting five posted the NBA's best net rating over their 17 games together, a number that points toward what this group can be rather than what it turned out to be on Friday night in Orlando.
And then they went to Kia Center, and the franchise's 10-year stretch without playoff basketball extended by one more year.
What Comes Next
Charles Lee finishes his first season as a head coach — the first at any level, anywhere — with a 44-38 regular-season record and a team that reached the second game of the play-in tournament before losing by 31.
The core returns. The questions that have surrounded this group since the day it was assembled return with it: what does the summer bring, which pieces fit alongside the four players who have emerged as the foundation, and can the next step be taken in year two of something that is no longer clearly a rebuild?
Orlando's answer to those questions, in the first twelve minutes of Friday night, was 38-16.
They came further in 2025-26 than this franchise had come in a decade. At Kia Center on Friday night, it wasn't far enough.