5 questions the Orlando Magic face in the fourth quarter of the 2022 season

Orlando Magic: 5 questions for the fourth quarter

What will the Orlando Magic do to ensure their draft position?

Of course, the unstated part of that experimenting the Orlando Magic are professing to do is that it does give them some cover for putting out lineups that clearly will not work and make it harder for them to stockpile wins.

The Magic have had the worst record in the league for much of the season. Injuries and youth played a role in that.  The schedule was always set up for them to play better down the stretch of the season.

Orlando will play 12 of the team’s remaining 17 games at the Amway Center. The Magic are a league-worst 7-22 this season at home. So maybe that is not a good thing.

Then again, Orlando has played its best basketball following and during long homestands. So being at home for extended periods should bring out the best in the Magic.

From that perspective — and certainly after getting through the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday and the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday — the schedule is set up for the team to succeed and pick up a few wins. The Magic are certainly good enough to pick up a few wins here and there.

Orlando was always set up to win a lot of games down the stretch for this reason. But the team is in a verifiable battle if that was something the franchise wanted to manipulate in its favor.

The Orlando Magic hold a half-game “lead” over the Houston Rockets for the worst record in the league and 1.5 games over the Detroit Pistons. The Oklahoma City Thunder in fourth are 4.5 games clear.

The Magic would have to go on quite the tear to end the season, all things considered, to not get the top odds to win the Lottery for the second straight year. That only gives the team a 14-percent chance of winning the entire Lottery and a 52-percent chance of landing in the top four.

This is not a draft that is expected to have a ton of star power. But the chance to add Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren, Jaden Ivey or Paolo Banchero is certainly something enticing. The Magic need an influx of talent and a Lottery win even in a down draft would go a long way to setting the team on the right path.

The question is whether the Magic will do anything to ensure they get that spot. Or whether the team itself will play well enough to play themselves out of it.

With the calendar turning to March, it is fair to turn at least half an eye toward the future. And that goes for everyone within the franchise.