The Orlando Magic had a 2021 of change.
The team’s 2021 season was largely a disaster as it started off with the injury to Markelle Fultz in early January that knocked him out for the season. The team dealt with repeated injuries throughout the year and cratered.
Ultimately, that led to roster change as the team acted at the trade deadline to reset the franchise. Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier, the three players who defined the franchise for the previous seven seasons were all gone in one day.
Orlando started refreshing itself for a new year much earlier than the turning of the page on the calendar. The team started over this season.
The Magic somehow came out of it refreshed and excited for their future despite how bleak the 2021 calendar year seemed to be.
The Orlando Magic are hopeful for a strong 2022. They have plenty of work to do to make this year the best it can be.
Orlando reset its roster. But the team also added a lot of excitement. Whether that was Cole Anthony’s late-season emergence and the collection of young players Orlando got in return for those franchise-changing moves.
It could have been the surprise addition of Jalen Suggs with the fifth overall pick in the draft and the euphoria that sent the fan base into. Or the emergence of Franz Wagner as a potential star through the course of this season.
The Magic have a 7-29 record, the second-worst in the league and the worst 36-game start in franchise history. But Orlando is optimistic about its future. All those young players are getting plenty of experience and there is hope for the team to continue to develop.
Health remains the big question mark for the team, of course. The Magic’s goals this year was to build experience for young players but also to integrate the team’s long-term injuries back into the fold.
Orlando has a lot on its plate for the 2022 calendar year. Every year in a rebuild is a critical one for growth and development. The Magic are continuing through the season and hoping to see young players get better. And they will use the information from the second half of the season to inform where they go next in their team’s development.
This will be a big year for the Magic. And they certainly, like all of us, have some goals they need to achieve.