Orlando Magic won't play on Christmas, but is one of the NBA's best-kept secrets

August is usually a pretty reserved month in the NBA calendar. Aside from the occasional free agent signing or transfer deal, the quietest part of the league's offseason coincides with the dog days of summer.

However, one of the notable events that take place in the eighth month of the year is the release of the NBA schedule. Aside from the 2020-21 season being postponed due to COVID-19, the full 82-game schedule has been released between August 10 and 20 every year since 2014.

The exact schedule is not yet known, but the first details are already being announced. Late Thursday evening The athletics Shams Charania reported on the NBA's five games scheduled for the annual Christmas Day showcase.

For the 13th year in a row, the Orlando Magic have not participated in the holiday program. It is the fifth longest dry spell in the league. Only Detroit (2005), Indiana (2004), Sacramento (2003) and Charlotte (never) have had longer breaks between their appearances at the league's festivities.

What it does include, however, are many of the NBA's most recognizable stars and markets. In another sense, the league has an unsurprising desire to showcase its most profitable entities – especially since it now competes with the NFL after once having the entire calendar of major professional sports to itself.

Christmas at Madison Square Garden is a tradition and the Knicks are considered one of the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference this season. They face Victor Wembanyama's Spurs in the first game of the day, highlighting the demand for the 2023 first-round pick despite his team only winning 22 games last season.

Anthony Edwards and Luka Doncic face off in the second slot in a rematch of the Western Conference Finals. A new-look 76ers team, which signed Paul George this summer, gets a chance against the defending champion Boston Celtics. Stephen Curry and LeBron James once again face off as two of this generation's titans. Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and the Suns face Nikola Jokic's Denver team in the night opener.

In April, the NBA released the rankings of the best-selling jerseys purchased through the league's official merchandise store. Of the 15 stars listed, 11 will be in action on Christmas – the only exceptions are Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard from Milwaukee, Ja Morant from Memphis and Lamelo Ball from Charlotte.

To be selected to play on Christmas Day, a team's formula must generally meet one or more of the following criteria:

Ultimately, it's up to the league to decide who it values. Looking at Orlando's case, it's probably an example of how the Magic are perceived in a casual sense and not a reflection of where they truly stand in the competitive landscape of the NBA.

From a pure basketball perspective, it is really interesting to see where the Magic will rank in comparison to their rivals in the league. They just managed to finish in the top five in the Eastern Conference, but the Magic are well positioned to compete for a similar finish next season. Former No. 1 pick Paolo Banchero is entering his third NBA season, along with Franz Wagner, who made headlines with his play at the Olympics with Germany. He has gained a new legion of fans, including Dwyane Wade, the approved The extra attention helped him become a huge fan of Wagner, even though the Magic received little national attention.

Together, Banchero and Wagner form a young striker duo with a promising future for the coming years and have the support needed to make a splash.

Yet Orlando has only appeared on national television once during the regular season over the past two seasons, and their omission from the national five-game Christmas Day schedule follows the same trend.

They're not the only team that might feel slighted by the lack of national attention. Teams like Eastern Conference finalist Indiana, rising Western Conference star Oklahoma City, or the combination of stardom and past success that is Milwaukee will also be absent from Christmas.

As for how Orlando can change the national attention it receives, many factors are outside of its control. History shows the correlation between the league and its advertisers, the variability that affects the size of the NBA market and overall audience share can influence decisions more than a pure win-loss record — especially at the margins. Fair or not, the Magic would likely need to put together several seasons at a competitive level to really shake up the scene, and even then the leash would be significantly shorter than some of their competitors in the Association.

The Magic can continue to win, develop draft talent and make valuable additions in the offseason, but they can't control how many people watch them, follow them on social media or buy jerseys. The NBA is a business — and a good one at that — with many other deals tied to it. Being considered an elite class of assets often requires a mix of these controllable and uncontrollable aspects that favor a franchise.

Orlando hasn't earned more frequent national recognition in over a decade, so perhaps it was no surprise that the Magic had so much money in their pockets.

Until then, they could well be one of the NBA's best-kept secrets.

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