The ripple effects from the NBA Draft Lottery begin and will hit the Orlando Magic

There was a genuine shock when the New Orleans Pelicans came up as the winners of the NBA Draft Lottery. And now the offseason is truly in motion.

The representatives for the teams that won the top four picks all stood on the stage awaiting the end of the commercial break. The New York Knicks, New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers all stood to wait to hear their fates, knowing the prize that awaited one of the winners.

As if to emphasize the stakes and the suspicion that always surrounds the NBA Draft Lottery, when the Lakers’ name was announced first, there was a small whelp of joy. The best player the draft had seen in some time was not heading to the Lakers as they always seem to.

Then the Knicks came up, and more gasps filled the hotel ballroom. The big-market Knicks, who had the worst record in the league, also would not get the big prize.

Instead, the top two picks fell to the Grizzlies (No. 2) and Pelicans (No. 1) setting off a host of questions and perhaps igniting one of the more interesting offseasons the NBA could see. One full of massive player movement and perhaps some teams looking to overcompensate to keep up and get their piece of the pie.

David Griffin, who has now won four NBA Draft Lotteries since 2011, will now have the chance to select Zion Williamson with the top overall pick. Everyone expects he will. And that will jumpstart the Pelicans’ rebuild — or reload — with Anthony Davis‘ trade demand still hanging over their heads.

The Lottery result is the first domino to fall. One that will ripple out to every team in the NBA.

The offseason has officially begun and already has been reshaped from what everyone initially thought it might produce. New plans and strategies must be formulated and determined now.

The Pelicans were reportedly shopping Jrue Holiday, or at least fielding calls from teams eager to acquire a point guard. Earlier this offseason, the Orlando Magic were already connected to him. But with Williamson in the fold to replace Davis, the Pelicans might be more willing to hold onto him.

On the other side, the Grizzlies receiving the second pick puts them in position to pick Ja Morant. If they do that, it suddenly seems to make Mike Conley available. Even at $30-plus million in the next three years, he is still a quality player who could find a market.

It is easy to see where this is going.

The league is expecting to see plenty of upheavals this offseason. There is a large chunk of the league who will become free agents this summer four years after the cap spike. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler are among the All-Star players expected to consider moving to new teams seriously.

The Magic are included in all of that.

Nikola Vucevic will hit free agency, perhaps forcing the team to hit the reset button a bit and reinvest in the young players who played largely supporting roles to their playoff run.

Orlando probably does not want to take a step back if the team can help it. And they might be willing to make a move that pushes the team ahead in some way.

The Magic are still somewhat rebuilding. They have a group of young players still reaching their potential. Orlando is trying to create an environment for them to continue growing and building.

Orlando is not in any hurry to do anything. But the team must understand its goals as it searches for opportunity this offseason. And now they must survey this new landscape.

A lot will still happen. But the board is now set in its starting position.

The NBA Draft is a big piece of this puzzle, of course. For the Magic, it is one of the biggest pieces.

And as this draft process emerges, there seem to be only bigger questions emerging.

The Phoenix Suns dropping from the second or third spot in the draft all the way down to six might take them out of position to grab the point guard they covet. They could be a team looking to move and looking to deal come draft night.

The draft class itself has a lot of parity. After the top guys — Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and R.J. Barrett — there are a lot of guys who are very similar. There is a tier certainly above the Magic, but there are a lot of players of similar quality the Magic could end up taking.

And what they do with that draft pick will set in motion what they do with the rest of the summer.

Whether they feel comfortable with what they have to move on from Terrence Ross. Whether they see the team as a playoff contender again and invest heavily in the short term or whether they stay patient and wait out their long-term development.

As it is with every draft, the league has been preparing for the draft for a long time. But now the pieces on the board are in place. Those draft picks are settled and teams can truly begin to assess what they have.

Teams that fell short may look to move up or add something from outside the team they did not expect. Teams in other places may not find the picks to their liking. Everyone can begin strategizing their place in this game.

Where will the Magic land? What will the Magic do?

All that still remains a mystery. But the dominos are in motion now.