Lessons and trends the Orlando Magic must learn from the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers

Lesson 5: The Right Role Players

The final lesson from the NBA Finals — and it is a lesson that rings true seemingly every year — is how important the right role players can be. Everyone needs to fill in and play a specific role and play that well to win in the NBA.

Both the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers had role players throughout their roster step up in big spots throughout the Finals.

Duncan Robinson was a season-long starter, but his shooting was vital to the Heat’s success. So too was the emergence of Tyler Herro and the veteran consistency of Jae Crowder.

The Lakers got a steady veteran contribution from Rajon Rondo throughout the postseason. But Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also stepped up in major ways this season.

The Lakers and Heat both knew they could set those players up for success and to give the team exactly what they needed.

The Orlando Magic have a lot of players who are NBA players, but getting them in the right roles to contribute meaningfully to the team in big moments has been difficult. As constructed, Orlando needs all its top players playing their best to have any chance to win. There is no margin for error.

And that is partly because the Magic do not get a ton of offense from their role players. And the potential of losing someone like D.J. Augustin only sharpens the need for the Magic to add scoring depth to the team.

That was key to both the Lakers and the Heat taking the leap into the Finals.