Orlando Magic’s in-season success still leaves uncertain future
The Orlando Magic are fighting for the Playoffs. But their future remains uncertain as does how they will develop beyond this season.
At the end of February, there could not be a more exciting time to be an Orlando Magic fan since the team began its rebuild.
The team was in pole position for a Playoff spot. The Magic were playing together and putting together impressive wins. They were flowing with confidence. And their key players throughout were making clear progress. The team was close to achieving its goals on the court.
Off the court, the buzz was still palpable from the team’s acquisition of Markelle Fultz. The former top overall pick was always unlikely to suit up for this year’s team but represented an opportunity for a bright future. This is still a young player with top overall pick talent, even if he has a serious injury to overcome.
It was easy to speak of the Magic in glowing terms.
Markelle Fultz was in place as a potential future piece. Jonathan Isaac was coming into his own — averaging 12.9 points per game and shooting 47.4 percent from the floor since Jan. 29 — as he gained more confidence.
Aaron Gordon established himself as a stellar defender and still-growing scorer as his efficiency increased. Mohamed Bamba was hurt but showed promising signs in his last few games before the injury knocked him out.
The Magic’s future suddenly looked bright. And Orlando was still in the Playoff race. By any preseason measure, the season was already a success — and left fans wanting more, raising expectations deeper into the season than ever before in the last six years.
Whether that future can eventually turn into a championship is certainly up for debate. The Magic do not have any top-end talent and it would take a player making a large leap to get into that discussion. But the team seems set up to compete in the Eastern Conference for the foreseeable future.
But there are still a lot of questions.
While the future looks a whole lot brighter, the opportunity of turning that potential into something is still a mystery. And how the Magic move forward from this season — as much of a limited success as it already might be — is a huge question mark.
ESPN is certainly still a bit bullish on the Magic. Their latest Future Power Rankings, a projection of where teams will stand in the next three years, saw the Magic make a small uptick from No. 25 to No. 20 thanks to the Fultz trade, according to ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks:
"The development of [Mohamed] Bamba and Jonathan Isaac and the recent addition of 2017 No. 1 pick Markelle Fultz will determine whether the Magic can shed the label of mediocrity in the future. Despite sacrificing $9.7 million in cap space for the 2019-2020 season, Orlando took a low-cost risk with the belief that Fultz can develop into the point guard of the future."
For sure there are big questions about whether the team’s young core can develop into something. Isaac and Bamba are still at the beginning stages of their careers. And Bamba and Fultz are dealing with injuries. They are all too young to draw too many conclusions. Just look at how Isaac has developed.
Still relying on the veterans
The Magic have also played this year in a weird posture. They are still developing and trying to grow their young players. But they have several young veterans who appear to be entering the primes of their careers and are producing well enough to get the Magic into the playoff conversation.
No doubt, Orlando’s playoff run is built on the backs of players like Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross, D.J. Augustin and Evan Fournier. None of those players figure to be part of the long-term vision for the Magic. But they do more than enough in the short term to deliver wins and establish a foundation to grow on.
How long they will be around is a question for debate. As is whether the Magic’s young players can step up and take charge of the team to continue the team’s momentum from this season.
Both Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross will become free agents this summer. How the Magic handle them will likely determine both the floor and the ceiling for the team next year. This team is still relatively capped out with $83.8 million committed to next season. That does not include likely options for Isaiah Briscoe and Wesley Iwundu or free agents in Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross and Khem Birch.
Orlando will not have a lot of free agency room to improve the roster this summer. It feels too early in this team’s development to make a splash in free agency anyway.
Yet, rolling the same team back does not exactly inspire a ton of confidence.
The end or the start?
As close as the Magic are to the Playoffs, they are still 32-38. There is a fair question to ask whether this is the best this group can do together or whether this is something the team can truly build off of and grow from.
It will set up an intriguing summer for the team and how it plans out its future. The team is moving forward but still could face landmines in their quest to keep getting better.
By any measure, the Magic still need to upgrade their talent. They certainly have to get better overall. Some of that will come from internal improvement. Aaron Gordon is just 23 years old, Jonathan Isaac is in his second year and Mohamed Bamba is still a rookie. Markelle Fultz has barely gotten off the ground too thanks to injury.
The team has a lot of potential. Much of it is unrealized. And there is still a fair amount of skepticism of how far this team can go.
None of these questions chance if the Magic end up making the Playoffs this year. Orlando likely already has thought about what it will like to do this summer — from potential deals the team could explore to the free agency decisions the team will make.
The playoff chase is certainly and fun and something worth pursuing. But beyond April and May, the Magic’s future remains very uncertain. None of that has changed, nor has it stopped operating in the background.
The important thing is that this season has provided a path forward. Even if it remains unclear.
Next. Orlando Magic know how important homestand is. dark
All this team can and should do, for now, is keeping pushing forward for the Playoffs. From there, the Magic will see what avenues open up to keep that momentum going.