Cole Anthony deserves the backing of every Orlando Magic fan

The Orlando Magic’s season is coming to an end, and there have been plenty of positives to take from what was a perfectly balanced season.

The organization remained just competitive enough to flirt with the Play-In Tournament for most of the year, but ultimately putting themselves in a position for a high lottery pick this summer.

Quite what the Orlando Magic will do with their lottery pick, as well as a likely top-four protected pick from the Chicago Bulls, remains to be seen. But changes are coming to this roster next season.

With some sense of stability and a young core in place, now is as good a time as any to give guard Cole Anthony his flowers, and he deserves total backing from the fanbase.

It is not often we talk about all of the things off the court that a third-year player can bring to a roster, and how important that is, but that has been the case with Cole Anthony this season.

In truth, it has been that way since he was drafted with the 15th pick back in 2020, and unlike the last version of this Magic team, Anthony was brought into circumstances that have suited him.

He was not needed to be a franchise savior, something he has never looked like being, and the re-emergence of Markelle Fultz this season has taken even more pressure off Anthony.

What this has meant is he can play the game his way off the bench, and have a really positive impact on the playing style and tempo of the team when he is on the court.

Anthony has only started three games all season, and the 25.8 minutes he is averaging is the lowest since entering the league.

Yet he is thriving in the role he has successfully carved out for himself, particularly in the last number of months.

It feels at this moment like Jalen Suggs is the more likely partner next to Markelle Fultz in the backcourt to start games in the future, and it remains to be seen if the Magic will look for more guard depth through the draft.

Rumors have persisted throughout the season that the organization may look to Fred VanVleet as their splashy offseason acquisition this summer, and this would be problematic for Cole Anthony.

But as things stand at this moment, Anthony deserves all of the support from fans for being a spark off the bench whose energy typifies what the Magic are about on their best nights.

They have had enough puzzlingly lethargic displays this season to cause genuine concern, yet when Anthony is involved he generally does his best to break through this wall of malaise.

Even if Anthony tops out as the Magic’s sixth man as they embark on a pursuit of regular playoff appearances, that will be a good return. Identifying that player is important in a team’s growth.

But what if there is even more to come from Anthony? Say, a Jalen Brunson-like jump next year?

This is asking a lot, and yet few saw the significant improvement in Brunson’s play coming after his move from the Dallas Mavericks to the New York Knicks.

So now it becomes a question of not only acknowledging all of the good Anthony has done in three years with the Magic but also how good he could be a year from now.

Anthony will be entering the final year of his rookie deal, and while the new CBA will be helpful to a young and approving franchise like the Magic, there will only be so much money to go around.

But can you put a price on being the soul of an organization?

Since 2012 when Dwight Howard left town, who can we really say has occupied that role with the group?

During the Nikola Vucevic-led era, when the Magic made the postseason on two occasions, there was not one suitable candidate as the individual who came to personify what we saw on the court.

Victor Oladipo could have been it had he not been traded, while Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier were decidedly not it.

Perhaps this is going out on a limb, but Jonathon Simmons is a name that comes to mind when trying to assign this important role to a previous member of the organization.

Which is why we are giving Anthony his props now, while also excitedly looking toward what he could be one day soon.

As a player, he is getting better, and has found a suitable role off the bench. Even if he is far from a guarantee to be on this roster in the next five years as they inch toward contention.

Making a Brunson-sized leap seems unlikely in this moment, but there is no doubt that Anthony has the capability to be an exciting guard who operates differently to Fultz or Suggs.