5 early Orlando Magic 2022 offseason storylines to watch

5 Orlando Magic offseason storylines

The Draft

When you finish at the bottom of the standings, the NBA Draft becomes the defining event of your offseason. And the Orlando Magic once again have aligned themselves to have a big draft night and use that as a catapult for the team’s rebuild.

Orlando finished with the second-worst record in the league, guaranteeing the team at least a top-six pick. The Magic will have a 14-percent chance to win the first pick and a 52.1-percent chance to win a top-four pick. Orlando still has a 20.0-percent chance of landing sixth.

That is the risk of the current Lottery system.

Orlando is betting they will win a coin flip to get one of the top picks. But the Magic, despite having one of the worst overall records in the league the last decade, have not moved up in the Draft Lottery since 1993 and have not won a pick determined by the Lottery since selecting Victor Oladipo second in 2013.

A lot is riding on the draft. No matter where Orlando ultimately lands on Draft Lottery night on May 17, the team needs to get the draft right. The Magic need to add not only a quality player, but they need a high-level player too.

If the Magic want to move forward in the way they likely imagine, that means getting a player who can make a clear impact on this team’s trajectory.

Orlando will have to wait to see where the team lands. And the team will have to sort its board of prospects the team likes — the easy money is in some order Jabari Smith, Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, Jaden Ivey, Keegan Murray and Shaedon Sharpe.

Magic fans should feel fairly comfortable with any of those six players to varying degrees — they all have their flaws and advantages — and there are a few players who could sneak their way into that group.

But the draft will be the biggest piece of this offseason and the biggest player the team adds this offseason.