Orlando Magic’s Blue and Silver Linings: 3 key takeaways from the 2021 season

Building efficiency

The player analysis is not much better – only three players on the Orlando Magic post-trade deadline had a win share better than 1 (James Ennis, Mohamed Bamba and Chuma Okeke) and only two players had a PER that was over the league average of 15.00 (Wendell Carter and Mohamed Bamba).

Depressing? Absolutely.

Hopeless? Absolutely not.

These season rankings are indicative of three factors that have been big storylines for the Magic this season:

Injuries to key players (the biggest being Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz’s torn ACLs but include significant injuries to players like Cole Anthony and Chuma Okeke). Injuries were a catalyst for the front office to trigger a long-awaited rebuild.

Roster turnover at the trade deadline — the exodus of three of the most valuable players created a severe deficit in terms of production.

And the Magic had one of the youngest rosters in the league post-trade deadline (24.3 years old — tied for 4th youngest in the league).

The amount of roster turnover in conjunction with the number of inexperienced pieces is the root causes for the season the Magic had.

While the Magic are rebuilding, they are in a relatively positive position in that they have an incredibly young roster that should benefit from an influx of talent from returning players as well as draft additions — the Nikola Vucevic deal netted the Magic an additional lottery pick for the 2021 draft.

This draft, in particular, should have Magic fans excited as it boasts several highly touted prospects available in the lottery such as Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley and Jalen Green.

Unlike teams like the Houston Rockets or Sacramento Kings who are in the midst of organizational turmoil, it seems like the Orlando Magic are finally unified in their vision for roster construction and have the assets to make improvements quickly.

There are several teams that could be used as blueprints for the Magic to emulate in pursuit of quick rebuilds.