The Orlando Magic: What Could Have Been

“For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been’”

-John Greenleaf

In “The City Beautiful” there is only one professional sports team: The Orlando Magic. The Magic have struggled in the last seven years in their search for success, but now with an all-star, a collection of young guys with great potential, and a 7th seed playoff berth (not to mention a win in the series), it seems as if they finally have something to be excited about. The only thing is, Orlando could have been a championship-caliber team at this point in time. To explain why, let’s start at the beginning as we normally do. When Dwight Howard left.

The Rebuild: Post-Dwight Howard

The Orlando Magic were a dominant force during the Dwight Howard-Era. They made six playoff runs from 2007-2012 including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2009. They didn’t win any championships, but they were always a threat to opposing teams. Unfortunately, following in the footsteps of Shaquille O’Neal, Dwight Howard demanded a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2012 off-season and the team built around Dwight Howard had nowhere to go. Naturally, when your best player decides to take his talents elsewhere, it’s time to rebuild—to lose games, acquire draft picks and create opportunities for the future. The Magic actually did this very well. It all started with a four-team trade with the Sixers, Nuggets, and Lakers. Dwight was sent out west to the city of angels, and the Magic were able to acquire six players and three draft picks. The most notable player the Magic acquired in that trade was (C) Nikola Vucevic. The Magic were also able to deal away J.J Reddick, Ish Smith and Gustavo Ayon for (SF) Tobias Harris, Beno Udrih, and Doron Lamb. The key player in that trade: Tobias Harris. Two-thousand-thirteen was a rough one for Orlando, but it’s where our story begins.

A Good Start: Vucevic & Harris

At the time, Nikola Vucevic was a “throw-in” in the trade. He was going into his second NBA season as the 16th pick in the 2011 Draft, and he was only averaging 5.5 PPG and 4.8 REB. He didn’t have much of a role in Philadelphia, but in Orlando, he was able to shine. In his first year in dawning the pinstripes, Vucevic improved drastically from his rookie year. He was averaging 13.1 PPG and 11.9 REB. Orlando had found the needle in the haystack, and Tobias Harris was also looking good. Tobias was coming off of his third year in the league, Averaging 4.9 PPG and 2.0 REB the previous year in Milwaukee. In his first year on Orlando, Harris bumped that up to 17.3 PPG and 8.5 REB. Orlando had found their frontcourt of the future. Finishing 20-62 was disappointing, but securing the 2nd Overall Pick in the upcoming draft wasn’t a bad consolation prize. The future was already looking very bright in Orlando.

The 2013 Draft: Victor Oladipo

With the 2nd pick the Magic selected (SG) Victor Oladipo out of Indiana University. A very athletic player who had a solid jump-shot at the time. He had an above-average rookie year with the Magic, averaging 14 PPG. He was a very elusive finisher at the rim and showed off his MJ-like moves. It was safe to say that Orlando was all-in on this guy. With Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic, and Victor Oladipo all playing well, the Magic could only improve by three wins. This put them at 23-59. Although disappointing, this record landed the Magic another top pick, as they were able to acquire the 4th overall.

The 2014 Draft: Aaron Gordon

With that pick, the Orlando Magic selected Aaron Gordon out of Arizona. Gordon was already in NBA-shape. His athleticism was his best feature coming out of the draft. He’s a high-flyer and is known to throw down some highlight-reel dunks. At the time, he had so much potential—but hadn’t shown it yet. Gordon was only able to average 5.2 PPG along with 3.6 REB. He wasn’t a big enough factor to improve his team, as they got just two more wins than the previous year, putting them at a dismal 25-57. This landed them another good spot in the draft, as they were given the 5th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Until now, the Magic had been doing everything right. They had been going through the rebuild process exactly the way they should have. Until now. This is when their road veers off the path of success. It all starts with the 2015 NBA Draft.

The 2015 Draft: Mario Hezonja

With the 5th pick, the Magic selected Mario Hezonja out of Croatia. This wasn’t even a bad pick at the time. The Magic had an abundance of athleticism, but they had very little perimeter shooting. Mario was thought to be one of the best shooters in his draft, so the selection actually made sense. There were a lot of issues with his game, but the Magic were confident he was the right fit for the team. Unfortunately, his contribution was sub-par right out the gate. In his first year, he averaged 6.1 PPG. In his second year, everything about his game got worse. He averaged 4.9 PPG, and his shooting percentage dropped like a rock. He wasn’t any help at all to the Magic, but their record improved again. This time, they took a much bigger step winning ten more games than the previous year ending the season on a 35-47 record. Not quite a contending team yet, but they were starting to hit their stride…until the off-season. This off-season was brutal. This is when Orlando threw away everything they had built. The notorious 2016 off-season.

2016 Off-Season: The Trade for Serge Ibaka

The Magic had the rights to the 11th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. With the pick they selected Domantas Sabonis, a 6’11 C/PF who was good down low and had an above average jump-shot for his size. Yet another great piece to add to a team quickly on the rise, right? Well, about that…In a very stunning turn of events, the Orlando Magic decided to trade away their young franchise player Victor Oladipo and 11th pick Domantas Sabonis (along with two other players) to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Serge Ibaka. If you’re expecting me to explain why this trade made sense for the Magic, you’ll be disappointed. I alongside every NBA analysist and Orlando Magic fan couldn’t tell you if we tried. This trade was—well, stunning to say the least. They traded away two dynamic young players on a quickly rebuilding team for a (at the time) 26-year-old shot blocker. Again, it made no sense. But wait, there’s more! I’m sad to say this, but that wasn’t the only horrible trade the Magic made that year. Let’s jump ahead to the trade deadline and peel the final band-aid off this tragic year.

2016 Trade Deadline: Trading Tobias Harris

After resigning Tobias Harris to a 4-year $64M contract in July, it was assumed by most that Tobias was here to stay in the city beautiful. Per-usual, we were all wrong. On February 16, 2016, Harris was traded to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Ersan İlyasova and Brandon Jennings. The Magic had now traded their developing (at the time) 23-year-old power forward for a washed-up point guard and a stretch-four bench player. Are you kidding me? Again, I have no explanation for this. After all of these bad decisions, the Magic ended up losing six more games than the year before, finishing the season with a 29-53 record. This was the final dagger. The Magic were now taking steps backwards. The worst part of this story? Those players they traded have gone on to do amazing things in the NBA so far. Let’s take a look at what they’ve been up to since departing from Orlando.

The Accomplishments of Departed Players

Let’s start with Domantas Sabonis. He has gone on to average 14.1 PPG and 9.3 REB as a starter on the Indiana Pacers, proving to be an excellent piece on a team that has made the playoffs since he’s been in Indiana. Speaking of the Pacers, Victor Oladipo has been the franchise player for them, the number one scoring option, averaging 23.1 PPG and earning two all-star appearances as. As for Tobias Harris? Well, he averaged 20 PPG and signed a five-year $180M contract with the Philadelphia 76’ers, who were contenders in the playoffs last year, taking the future NBA Champion Toronto Raptors down to the final shot in game 7. This year, he’s the 2nd scoring option on the same team that is a clear favorite to win the east. If you’re a Magic fan, that’s a tough thing to see. However, in the present, they’re in a much better spot than anyone would have thought.

2018-2019 Season: Things are Looking up

Despite making bad decisions over the course of two years, the Orlando Magic have taken a sharp turn in the right direction. They drafted Johnathan Isaac in 2017 and Mohamed Bamba in 2018. Isaac—who has been compared to, and praised by, Kevin Durant—showed tremendous improvement in his second year this past season and is starting to look like a future NBA all-star. Bamba was having a great rookie season up until his injury, and Nikola Vucevic averaged 20.8 PPG and 12 REB making his first all-star appearance. Aaron Gordon also has shown improvement. The Magic were able to get rid of Serge Ibaka, a player who didn’t fit in with the team very well. They traded Ibaka for Terrence Ross, who has found his place on the Magic right away as one of the best sixth-man candidates in the league while being given the nickname “The Human Torch” due to his ability to catch fire and hit eight threes in a game. They revived Michael-Carter-Williams career giving him a back-up point guard role on the team. He was a former rookie-of-the-year who has been on the verge of being out of the NBA for quite some time, but just like Ross, Orlando has given him a fresh start. They also traded for Markelle Fultz on February 7th, 2019, who was a former number one pick. Although he hasn’t played a game for the Magic yet, he somehow lit a fire under the them, as they were 20-31 on January 30th, and then went 20-9 finishing with a 42-40 record and clinching a 7th seed playoff berth for the first time in franchise history since 2012. In the first round, they ended up playing the future NBA champions, the Toronto Raptors. In the very first game in Toronto, they won 104-101 on a game-winning three from D.J Augustin. They lost four-straight games and were eliminated in just five, but they fought hard every night and nearly won game 3 at home. A well-deserved semi-happy ending to this story for Orlando.

The Verdict

So, yes, the Magic could have been championship contenders these past few years. If they would have held onto players they got rid of in bad trades, they might have even made an NBA Finals appearance or two. But they’re on a great track. They have proven vets, an all-star, and a ton of young talent. Orlando; despite a detour that looked certain to be headed for disaster, you’ve managed to end up somewhere decent. This team should be fun to watch grow. Blue and White…Ignite!