Orlando Magic Trade Value Column 2021

1. 2021 First Round Pick

While Jonathan Isaac remains a key and critical part of the team’s future, he is not an established star in this league. He still has a lot of work to do to be a better offensive player and reach that lofty potential. And next year will feel like a rookie year as he returns from a torn ACL.

The most valuable asset the Orlando Magic hold is the only thing good that can come out of this lost season down to the bottom of the standings. It is perhaps the most important tool the Magic now have to get significantly better.

And even though it is reliant on luck, the Magic’s 2021 first-round pick now may make or break Jeff Weltman’s tenure as president of basketball operations.

Many draft pundits and scouts believe the top of this draft is as good as any other in recent years.

Cade Cunningham of Oklahoma State is the real star — a 6-foot-8 guard with point guard feel and passing ability with the shot-creating ability that teams without a star covet.

But after him is a collection of solid players who all have extremely high upsides — G-League Ignite guard Jalen Green, G-League Ignite forward Jonathan Kuminga, USC center Evan Mobley and Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs. All are seen as potential stars and as Green and Kuminga proved in the G-League bubble, they can step in and play a role immediately.

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Even after them, there are some solid players with more questions but solid upside like Arkansas’ Moses Moody, Tennessee’s Keon Johnson, Florida State’s Scottie Barnes or Connecticut’s James Bouknight.

Orlando obviously would prefer to get “rewarded” for this cursed season with a top-five pick. That would make everything worth it. But that part is obviously out of their hands.

For now, the Magic are going to have to assume this pick will land in the top five — the Magic have the fourth-worst records to win the Lottery and that seems to be where the team will eventually land. A chance at one of these players may well be franchise shifting.

And with the players Orlando is likely to retain (and perhaps add with impending trades), that player could well be the one that not only gets them back into the playoff picture but raises their ceiling enough to start climbing up the standings again.

If the Magic have a core of players: it is Jonathan Isaac, Markelle Fultz and this pick.

With the promise of this draft, this pick is now the most important trade asset for the Magic. And it is probably completely untouchable.