Orlando Magic’s 2017 Summer Calendar
The Orlando Magic’s season is over. And while there are still the Playoffs to get through across the NBA, the summer schedule is in focus too.
The NBA Playoffs started Saturday and the entirety of the NBA’s focus will turn to them almost entirely. For the next two months, fans will get to gorge themselves on the best basketball all season. It will be a feast.
The Orlando Magic will not be enjoying that feast for a fifth straight year. The team missed the Playoffs for a franchise-long fifth straight year, finishing at 29-53. It was an extremely disappointing season for the Magic as the team promised the Playoffs with perhaps its most talented roster since losing Dwight Howard.
The Magic’s season is over. The team has moved on and will look for a new general manager through the first part of the summer. Interim general manager Matt Lloyd will lead the team through the first part of the summer as the team turns its focus to the Draft.
Orlando news will slow to a trickle for the next few weeks as the team beings formulating its short list and preparing for the Draft. The team, as CEO Alex Martins said during his press conference Thursday, will be keeping a close eye on the Playoffs as some of their general manager targets are likely not available until their teams are eliminated from the Playoffs.
The calendar will keep marching on. When the Magic make their general manager hire is unknown. But there is a timeline of events that will happen in the next few months.
Mark your calendar for these critical dates this summer:
May 9-14: NBA Draft Combine
The NBA Draft Combine will be the first major event for the Magic this summer. The team is not likely to have a new general manager in place and so coach Frank Vogel and Matt Lloyd will lead the Magic contingent to this next big step in the draft process.
The top prospects are not likely to do very much in Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine. They will not play in the five-on-five scrimmages or even do many of the agility tests or measurements. They have to protect that information to the teams they want to target.
This is a critical point in the draft process. It is the first time teams get a chance to talk to the Draft prospects. The drills and scrimmages are not as important as the interviews the team conducts as they begin to learn who the players are as people.
This is also when teams begin setting up and scheduling workouts.
May 16: NBA Draft Lottery
This is the big one.
The Magic will learn where they will pick at the NBA Draft Lottery on May 16. This could very well determine the team’s future and how they build for the rest of the season.
The Magic finished with the fifth-most Lottery odds and will have an 8.8 percent chance at winning the Lottery and a 29.1 percent chance of landing a top-three pick.
All eyes will be on this day for sure. As has been the case for much of the last five years, the Magic’s luck will be out of their control for the time being.
Orlando will be pinning their hopes to this date. What happens this day sets the Magic’s future and, for the short-term, determines what direction they try to go for the rest of the summer.
In essence, this date locks the Magic into place for the rest of the summer.
June 22: NBA Draft
This will be a day every team in the NBA will focus on. This year’s draft class is one of the strongest classes in some time. Orlando will have two first round picks and possibly two second round picks too, depending on how the Lottery shakes out.
Team’s fortunes are really made on this day, no doubt.
The Magic’s franchise trajectory changed dramatically at last year’s draft with the Victor Oladipo–Serge Ibaka trade. This is not just about selecting players. The Draft becomes a hub for trade activity in general.
Orlando should have a new general manager in place by this date. If they do not, that would be pretty concerning actually. Whoever the new general manager is, the Draft will be the first chance for him to make his imprint on the team.
The Draft always brings that opportunity to change and refresh things. The Magic will certainly begin reshaping their roster on this day.
Orlando Magic
July 1: Free agency begins
As it is every year, the NBA’s free agency period begins July 1. Teams can begin contacting potential free agents and negotiating new deals on this date. They will be able to sign them shortly thereafter, as the league finishes its annual accounting.
The Magic will not have a ton of cap room, as things stand. Do not expect Orlando to go after any max free agents. But the team should still have plenty of money to throw around in free agency to help bolster a bench unit that really struggled throughout the season — and especially after the All-Star Break.
This will be an important period for the Magic as they try to improve the roster while still trying to get back to the Playoffs on a shorter timeline.
July 1-6: Orlando Summer League
The dates for the Orlando Summer League have not been publicly announced yet.
Usually, at least the participating teams are leaked before the end of the season. There are some reports the league will reduce to eight teams this year and the Magic will have only one team in the weeklong league in Orlando.
It usually takes place the first week of July
, The Summer League will take place the first weekend in July, typically the week before the NBA Summer League kicks off in Las Vegas. The Summer League there takes place a week later than normal and the Orlando Summer League may follow suit.
It will begin either July 1 or July 8.
The weeklong Summer League will start July 1.
With the bulk of free agency over before Summer League, that will get rid of some of the rumor intrigue that occurs during the week and put the focus back on the basketball.
This event will be the first time Magic fans will be able to see their rookies — the two first round picks. So unlike last year when the Magic did not have any draft picks playing or second-year forward Mario Hezonja playing, this year’s Summer League will have a lot more attention and focus.
[eds. note: The original version of this article listed an estimated date for Summer League, Orlando Magic Daily has since confirmed it will begin July 1 at the Amway Center]
September 25: Training Camp Begins*
Once Summer League goes quiet, the next big date on the calendar is the start of training camp. That usually occurs the last week of September.
So around September 25, the Orlando Magic will officially be back to work to prepare for the 2018 season. It feels so close yet so far away today. . .
October 17: 2018 Regular Season Begins*
Again, a rough estimate. The season usually starts the last week of October. The NBA though plans to cut the preseason by two weeks to help spread out the season a bit more. So around October 17 or so, the NBA season should be back.
Yes, there are still the Playoffs to get through. But for the Lottery-bound teams like the Magic, the 2018 season is already in clear focus.
Next: OMD Podcast: The end of the process
Mark your calendars now.