Orlando Magic still need their All-Star to move forward

The All-Star Game is an exhibition weekend. It is really the weekend for the league and its players to get business done. The game itself is not important at all.

Sure, All-Star appearances affect a player’s legacy and go into the counting for Hall of Fame consideration and many other things. But everyone wants different things out of the game and the weekend.

If all anyone is doing at All-Star Weekend is attending the events on TV, they are probably doing it wrong.

But All-Star Weekend and those events still have a lot of narrative framing. There is still a bit of posturing. And eventually the truly great players shake out and rise to the top.

Every All-Star Weekend announces some new player’s arrival to the elite group in the league or reaffirms why one player is where he is. Or that he is not going anywhere.

Each All-Star Weekend is a statement of where the league is and where it is going. It is a statement of the storylines the NBA is trying to push and explore and who will be the face of the league in the present and moving to the future.

It not just some exhibition weekend.

All-Star Weekend was a chance for the Orlando Magic to make a statement. The team did in some ways but also made it clear they need a star still.

The Orlando Magic are obviously not front and center in this story. The team has the worst record in the league and is in the beginning stages of a rebuild. But they still had a large presence in the early part of the weekend.

They had three players play in the Rising Stars game with Cole Anthony hanging around for the Dunk Contest on Saturday. It is the first time the Magic have had three participants at All-Star Weekend since 2009, when they had three players in the Sunday game and Dwight Howard in the Dunk Contest and Rashard Lewis in the 3-point contest.

This year obviously did not have the same impact or weight as that trio. The Magic’s young players were there to get their feet wet.

But Orlando’s young players did not shine in the way the team would hope. In the pecking order of young players, Orlando’s trio of young rising stars did not go to the front.

It has been painfully obvious watching the team and watching their struggles that they are missing that one player to tie everything together. Cole Anthony has taken on the “star” role with a 26.1-percent usage rate. The Magic’s other two participants at All-Star Weekend are second and third among regular rotation players (Moe Wagner is third on the team between Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner.

Orlando clearly has talent. The team’s presence in Cleveland showed that. But the group also was never the story of the weekend.

In disorganized games like the ones we see at All-Star Weekend, some players will inevitably take the lead and assert themselves more. Sometimes teams are trying to make a point too — funneling the ball to a hometown player.

The All-Star Game is meaningless unless it is not.

Allen Iverson leading a comeback in the 2001 All-Star Game put him into a new tier and catapulted him toward an MVP award. Tracy McGrady made his claim to elite status by stealing everyone’s thunder with his off-the-backboard dunks in 2002. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving announced their arrivals as star players by dominating their Rising Stars games in 2007 and 2012.

There are little statements like these that get made among the elite players gathering. A pecking order does emerge. You can figure out real quick who the players who matter are in the league (centers are somewhat excluded because they do not handle the ball particularly well to initiate and create offense).

The same goes for the Rising Stars game. Even in the new format with players split into four teams, it was clear who the most important players were.

On Team Worthy, Cole Anthony played more facilitator and showman. He took plenty of shots early, but most of his highlights came from passes and getting the ball to scorers. Jalen Green had 20 of the team’s 49 points in the game and Jalen Suggs had 17.

Even though Anthony had a lot of attention as the point, it was Suggs who showed the most star promise. He had some dazzling plays throughout the game.

After struggling all season long with his shot, Suggs’ display on the big stage was a welcomed sight. It should be a boost of confidence.

Of course, this game was played like a typical Rising Stars game. There was little defense. But it was good to see the ball find Suggs and for Suggs to take the opportunity.

Franz Wagner, the Magic’s other rookie, is not a player designed for All-Star games. He is not someone that plays outside his box. But how invisible he looked in his two games with Team Barry did not support his budding stardom.

Or, at least, the chance that he can be a true No. 1 guy and franchise pillar.

The stars of the evening Friday were the guys who took over. Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley were the favorites to win Rising Stars MVP. Desmond Bane hit big shots for Team Isiah.

Suggs put himself in place with those players. He shined on the big stage. Anthony had his moments too.

But these guys were not the stars of the weekend. They did not put themselves in the bigger conversations of the league in the same way as other players.

Anthony was a showman this weekend, but he was not a star. Or not a clear-cut star. The Magic were a presence but did not make a statement that they have a stake in this league.

This is the power a star brings. They demand attention. Orlando has not had a guy like that since Dwight Howard left. And it is still the thing this rebuild is missing. It cannot succeed without it.

That is not to say none of Anthony, Suggs or Wagner will return to All-Star Weekend sometime in the future. All three have All-Star talent.

But are they perennial All-Stars? Are they guys whom the team will revolve around? Whom the league will revolve around?

This is the bigger question for the Magic moving forward. This is the goal for these players to develop into.

But the reality is that relief is likely coming in the draft. Orlando, despite a manageable schedule to end the season including 15 home games, is likely to finish with one of the worst records in the league. The Magic are aligning themselves for a top pick in this draft and another crack at a potential star in Jabari Smith Jr., Chet Holmgren or Paolo Banchero.

Orlando has talent. The team clearly needs more. It needs top-end talent more than anything else.

All-Star Weekend was a good showcase of what the Magic have. But it was also a clear statement the team needs more. And needs to see its players develop alongside that influx of elite talent.