Around 10:30 a.m. on March 25, 2021, the Orlando Magic’s future changed.
At that point, the team knew it was likely getting one of the top picks in the draft. The team knew it was going to add someone very talented to a collection of players who had made the playoffs the previous two seasons.
But the team’s future was very much at stake and in question. How the team would get out of the first-round ringer was unclear. the team needed something more.
In some respects, that seemed like the formula to help the team breakthrough in a major way. The team had solid players that enabled it to get into playoff contention — with a coach who could channel the team’s energy to the right places — but they were missing that one piece.
Nikola Vucevic established himself as an All-Star, earning his second trip to the big game a few weeks before. But the team was still struggling to breakthrough.
Perhaps timing — it is everything, after all — forced the Magic’s hand. That build-through-the-middle idea the team had been trying to grow and develop with a young roster the previous two years ran out.
Evan Fournier was set to become a free agent and unlikely to re-sign with the team as they sought for something more. Then Aaron Gordon made public a trade request.
The Magic’s hand was not forced by any means. But they were nudged in a new direction. The middle path suddenly looked a lot more perilous to rebuild a team — especially with two starters still recovering from torn ACLs.
The Orlando Magic made a transformational trade to reset the franchise last season. The first year of this rebuild has brought optimism but still few clear answers for the team’s future.
A little more than a year ago, the Magic transformed their franchise and picked a lane.
After four seasons under Jeff Weltman of trying to make the most of the players left to him from the failed rebuild of Rob Hennigan and small success — the most success that the team has had this decade. Weltman hit the restart button.
A year later, the Magic’s rebuild has shown plenty of positive signs. That is something to celebrate and hope for. But that big piece is still missing. There is still a lot of uncertainty.
Until the Magic develop and find a star to galvanize the roster, the team is going to struggle to have that breakthrough. That is part of what doomed the team for much of the last decade.
The team is progressing in the right direction, it appears, but it is also clear how quickly things could fall apart. And the lessons of the Hennigan rebuild still haunt the franchise as it looks to move forward.
For the first year of a full rebuild, the Magic can count on a few positive things. Everyone seems bought into what the team is doing and talks optimistically about the future — even players on expiring contracts seem eager to sign back up and see this thing through.
Key young players have made impressive steps forward this year. Everyone is so young in their careers, it is easy to see how they will improve, although to what degree remains a big mystery.
Wendell Carter, acquired in the trade for Nikola Vucevic, has worked to reclaim his career. The Magic have made him a featured player, leveraging his playmaking and decision-making to center the offense. Carter has continued to grow in confidence and has finished the season.
Franz Wagner, acquired as a draft pick in that Nikola Vucevic trade, has emerged as a potential young star seemingly fitting in wherever and however the Magic might need him. Fans have spent the whole season begging for the team to involve him more.
Even young players who have struggled have shown promising signs.
Cole Anthony started the year with a scoring burst. But even as he has struggled with his efficiency, Anthony has also improved his playmaking and passing.
Jalen Suggs was supposed to be the breakthrough rookie. But even though he has struggled with his scoring, he has already established himself as one of the best defenders on the team. And his burst to get to the basket is among the best in the league already.
The team is still reincorporating injured players too. Markelle Fultz has shined in his time back from injury since the All-Star Break.
Orlando has done a good job trying to galvanize around a chosen identity on the defensive end and have shown good improvement. The style fits the personnel — and the players Weltman has often drafted.
The team’s new coach, the young and developmentally focused Jamahl Mosley, has said all the right things and done a good job keeping the team tied together through what everyone knew would be a rough season.
But he has also put a solid focus on the defensive end. The Magic have slowly climbed the defensive ranks, and are ninth in the league in defensive rating since Jan. 1 (a span of 39 games and nearly half the season).
That is at least a positive sign. The team has played a lot better, even if there are still plenty of areas to improve.
Still, the results are not there. The Magic are 13-26 since Jan. 1 and a better but still struggling 7-8 since the All-Star Break (where the team is second in defensive rating).
The team still lacks the star power to center the roster around. Orlando has been at the bottom of the league offensively. There are still a lot of answers.
As good as all the players on the Magic have been, there is still a clear thing missing for this team. And it is hard to predict where the Magic will go without that piece in place.
Where do the Magic sit a year after these monumental changes? That is a tough question to answer. Perhaps a question that was always impossible to answer after one year of this.
Perhaps all the Magic wanted to see this year was that little bit of progress and to see the picture become a bit clearer. They wanted to see the foundation for what they hope to become one day.
If that is the case, there are positive signs. But they are just positive signs at this point. Nothing in this rebuild is concrete quite yet.
The team is still seeking a clear consistency on offense and a consistent style. Orlando is still hoping for Lottery luck and needs to get this upcoming draft right — no matter where the Lottery gods send the team’s pick.
They still have a lot of work to do.
A year after the Magic’s big franchise-changing trade, the team has restored a lot of the good vibes and hope that a fan base needs to survive. Those who have watched this team love the people and players on it.
How certain is this to turn into a consistent playoff team or into eventually a title team? That part remains uncertain. And the Magic easily could fall off.
The only thing the team can do now is to build on what was good and keep pushing forward into next year.