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Lakeland Magic open first G-League season Nov. 4

By Philip Rossman-Reich

LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 18: Adreian Payne #33 of the Minnesota Timberwolves handles the ball against the Chicago Bulls during the 2016 NBA Las Vegas Summer League game on July 18, 2016 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 18: Adreian Payne #33 of the Minnesota Timberwolves handles the ball against the Chicago Bulls during the 2016 NBA Las Vegas Summer League game on July 18, 2016 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The NBA released the G-League’s schedule Thursday. The Lakeland Magic will open their season on the road Nov. 4 and open at home Nov. 10.

The Lakeland Magic will open their much-anticipated first season of play Nov. 4 in Iowa against the Iowa Wolves. They will open at their new home the RP Funding Center (nee Lakeland Center) on Nov. 10 against the Canton Charge.

It is an exciting time for the Orlando Magic to have their G-League affiliate a short one-hour drive away in Lakeland. This has long been a dream for the Magic to use the G-League more and more. But forever, they had to ship their developing players out to Erie.

Orlando under both Otis Smith and Rob Hennigan believed players would develop better practicing with the team. And so with their G-League affiliate out in Anaheim, Albuquerque and Erie, it did not make sense to have players spend time in the G-League. The team would have to commit that player to the G-League for several weeks to use the team. Geography prevented Orlando from using this tool.

The advantage of having the team in Lakeland is quite simple — the Magic can send a player to nearby Lakeland for a game and then return him to Orlando for a team practice or for another game the next day. It keeps the players the Magic would like to develop nearby.

This is something Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman wants to use to its fullest. While he was the general manager with the Toronto Raptors, the Raptors used their G-League affiliate, Raptors 905, extensively. Players would go down for a game and then return to the Raptors a day later or shortly after.

Now that the G-League schedule is out, the team can begin planning how it might want to dole out assignments. At least tentatively. Conditions in training camp and with the team on a day-to-day basis will change.

The Lakeland Magic will start the year on the road before coming home to play the Canton Charge on Nov. 10. They play a three-game homestand until Nov. 14. This is all while the Magic are on their first West Coast road trip.

Lakeland plays a five-game home stand from Dec. 6-16. The Magic are home in Orlando for the majority of that homestand. It would appear likely the team could send young players like Wesley Iwundu or Khem Birch or maybe even Jonathan Isaac during this time for a spot game if they find themselves out of the rotation at that time.

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Orlando Magic /

Orlando Magic

The team’s next long homestand is from Feb. 10-24. That is over the NBA All-Star Break (the G-League also takes an All-Star Break then). They close the season with a three-game homestand from March 20-24. The team is home throughout that homestand too.

There will undoubtedly be other times the schedule overlaps, affording the Magic the opportunity to send a player to Lakeland for a spot start before returning to the team. That is what the G-League has become for many teams.

The Magic are indeed likely to use the G-League pretty extensively.

They signed Adreian Payne to a two-way contract. Second-round pick Wesley Iwundu seems likely to spend some time in the G-League to get playing time as he plays behind veteran wings in Arron Afflalo, Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross. Training camp invitee Khem Birch could also see some time in the G-League behind the Magic’s crowded frontcourt quartet.

Of course, both those guys could play their way into the rotation and make these plans moot.

And the Magic surely would like to give Jonathan Isaac a spot start or two if he is struggling to get playing time or struggling to adjust to NBA speed. They may play that by ear.

Next: Tyler Harvey taken off Lakeland Magic in G-League expansion draft

It should make for a good experiment as the Magic now finally have this resource available to them fully.