When last we checked in on the Orlando Magic, there was realistic optimism that still existed.

Jalen Suggs wasn’t out for the season officially after announcing undergoing arthroscopic surgery in his knee. There was an approaching stretch of games featuring a pair of matchups with the tanking Toronto Raptors and the ninth-seeded Chicago Bulls. Even after losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, hope remained that dodging play-in games of the NBA Playoffs was an option.

Now with 18 games remaining in the season and six games back from the Detroit Pistons at the sixth seed of the Eastern Conference heading into Thursday night’s 125-123 loss to the Bulls, the Magic are 1-6 in the recent homestand and 29-35 on the year. Unfortunately for Orlando, matters are about to get a whole lot worse e on the schedule where they head into a five-game road trip starting Saturday.

It opens against the East’s fourth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks (against whom the Magic are already 0-3 this season). Then on Monday, the battle against the West’s fifth-ranked Houston Rockets. That’s followed by an easier outing against the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday before hitting rematches against the Minnestoa TImberwolves Friday, March 14th, and Cleveland Sunday, March16th.

The Magic then return home to host a rematch against the Rockets on Wednesday, March 19th.

There is good news that may help Orlando limp into a play-in game. They have an eight-game lead on the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets who are currently tied at the 11th seed. The other is that their star forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are both playing at a high level. The first duo to average over 20 points individually since Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway, Wagner and Banchero have returned to form since their oblique injuries that had each player missing about two months.

However, will the two of them be enough to overcome losing Suggs as well as their sixth man in backup post player and brother to Franz Mo Wagner? Only the remainder of the regular season holds that answer.