- 1 Phoenix Suns vs Orlando Magic: the league’s worst defensive rating on the second night of a back-to-back
- 2 Phoenix Suns: 124.5 points allowed a night at the slowest pace in the NBA
- 3 Orlando Magic: no Banchero, no Suggs, and 17 turnovers a game
- 4 Free NBA Prediction: Phoenix Suns vs Orlando Magic
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Phoenix Suns vs Orlando Magic: the league’s worst defensive rating on the second night of a back-to-back 
Phoenix is allowing 126.3 points per 100 possessions, the worst defensive rating in the NBA so far. The Suns are 1-3, and their three defeats came by 41, 11 and 7 points.
Orlando visits Phoenix on Thursday 5 November, tip-off 9:00pm ET. It’s the first of two meetings between these teams this season, and the second one isn’t until 9 March in Orlando.
The schedule tilts this one before a ball is thrown up. Phoenix plays at Golden State on Monday night, hosts Portland on Wednesday and then turns straight around for Thursday. Orlando’s last game before the trip is at home to Washington on Monday, which leaves the Magic two full days off before they take the floor in Arizona.
Neither roster is whole. Orlando has been without Paolo Banchero since a right high ankle sprain on 23 October, with a reported timeline of four to six weeks, and Jalen Suggs isn’t due to be re-evaluated until around 9 November after a bone bruise in his right knee. Phoenix is still missing Mark Williams following left shoulder surgery.
Recent meetings lean one way. Orlando has won four of the last five regular-season games between the two, and the only Phoenix win in that stretch needed two overtimes, 113-110 on 21 February 2026.
The Magic won 115-111 when the teams last met, in Orlando on 31 March, and they’ll arrive with a better net rating than the Suns despite their own injury list.
Phoenix Suns: 124.5 points allowed a night at the slowest pace in the NBA 
The Suns play at 96.1 possessions per 48 minutes, the slowest pace in the league, and they still concede 124.5 points a game. A slow team giving up that many is getting beaten in the half court, not in transition.
Denver showed how on 30 October. The Nuggets hit 20 of 37 threes in a 127-120 NBA Cup win in Phoenix, even though the Suns won the rebounding 42-40. The damage came from the perimeter, possession after possession.
Devin Booker is averaging 22.3 points and 5.3 assists. Dillon Brooks adds 16.5 points, and Mikal Bridges, acquired from Charlotte on 13 July for Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale and a 2033 first-round pick, is putting up 16.3 points and 7.3 rebounds. Jalen Green has been quieter at 11.0 points a night.
Brooks carries a separate question. He was ejected against Denver after a Flagrant 2 on Jamal Murray, and the league was still reviewing the incident with no suspension announced as of 31 October.
The only win so far came against Golden State, 131-122 on 24 October. Phoenix’s offensive rating of 113.6 ranks 16th, which is respectable, but a net rating of minus 12.7 puts the problem squarely on the defensive end.
With Williams out, the minutes at center go to rookie Khaman Maluach, at 8.0 points and 7.0 rebounds, and Oso Ighodaro, who only returned from an oblique strain on 30 October. Neither has the size to cover for a perimeter defense leaking threes.
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Orlando Magic: no Banchero, no Suggs, and 17 turnovers a game 
Orlando is 2-3, and both wins came on the road: 111-102 at New York on 25 October and 121-114 at Toronto on 30 October. The Magic are 0-2 at home and 2-1 away.
Franz Wagner has carried the load with Banchero sidelined, averaging 20.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 7.0 assists. Desmond Bane is at 17.2 points and Wendell Carter Jr. at 14.8 points and 8.6 rebounds.
Turnovers are the obvious weakness. Orlando gives the ball away 17.0 times a game, one of the highest marks in the league, and its offensive rating of 109.4 ranks 23rd. Against a team as slow as Phoenix, every wasted trip costs a little more.
The defense has been ordinary too, at 118.0 points allowed per 100 possessions, 25th in the NBA. That’s still 8.3 points per 100 better than Phoenix, and Orlando’s net rating of minus 8.6 sits four points clear of the Suns’.
Anthony Black (14.3 points, 5.3 assists in three games) and Tristan da Silva (13.2 points) have picked up more of the creation with Suggs out. Sean Sweeney, in his first season after replacing Jamahl Mosley, has been starting Jase Richardson in the backcourt.
The 129-99 loss in Toronto on 28 October is the result that gives me pause. Orlando answered it two nights later by beating the same Raptors by seven.
Probable lineup Phoenix Suns: Not announced at time of publication
Probable lineup Orlando Magic: Jase Richardson, Desmond Bane, Anthony Black, Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr.
Free NBA Prediction: Phoenix Suns vs Orlando Magic
Our prediction: Orlando Magic to win
I’m backing Orlando on the moneyline. Phoenix will be playing its third game in four nights, the last two at home on consecutive evenings, and the Suns have conceded 120 or more in all four of their games. Orlando comes in with two days of rest after Monday’s home game against Washington.
The Banchero and Suggs absences are the honest case against this pick. Both of Orlando’s wins, though, came after Banchero went down on 23 October, so the Magic have already won on the road without him, and they’ve taken four of the last five meetings with Phoenix.
No odds had been posted at the time of writing, so the price on the Magic needs checking closer to tip-off. If the league suspends Brooks for the Murray incident, Phoenix loses its second-leading scorer and the case for Orlando gets stronger.
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