5 Orlando Magic storylines to watch in the 2023 NBA Finals

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Franz Wagner added to the accolades of his rookie year getting named to the All-Rookie First Team. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /

5 Orlando Magic storylines to watch in the 2023 NBA Finals

Lessons in Team Building

On the other side of that Aaron Gordon trade was Gary Harris.

For him, the trade was something of a shock and something of a fall. He was leaving a team that he had helped build into a winner and played a key role from the very beginning to go to a team that was just starting over.

As Harris met the Orlando media for the first time, he said all the right things of course. But he noted that he had the experience of being right in these shoes before. He was a player on a team without much recent history who watched the team grow into a title contender.

For a Magic team that needed some on-court and locker-room experience on this big rebuilding project they were undertaking, Harris’ insight and experience would be critical for a young team. The fact he has chosen to stay and help this thing continue to grow is at least some endorsement of what is getting started in Orlando.

But that is also the bigger point. Things are just getting started in Orlando. And this team wants to build the same kind of sustained success that both the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat have built.

This trip to the Finals is not merely a journey about this year. They did not get here just because of what happened this season. This has been a multi-year journey of team building and culture to reach this point. It has been the culmination of a long journey.

There were plenty of times when both the Nuggets and Heat could have abandoned what they were building. Instead, they stayed the course and stayed true to their journey and the culture they were building.

They believed in the teams and ideas they had and did not let momentary setbacks slow them down.

Indeed, this journey was one that was built over many years.

Several Nuggets players and coaches have pointed to their loss in the final game of the regular season to Jimmy Butler and Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2018 season as a galvanizing point for this run through the playoffs over several seasons.

The Heat have had plenty of times to turn back too. They have seemingly gone up and down going from the Finals in the 2020 bubble to out in the first round to the top seed in the East to barely making it into the playoffs through the Play-In Tournament.

What has mattered to these teams is the continuity in what they have built. They have spent years to get to this moment and built their identity through years of repetition, adding role players that fit their stars and fit their culture rather than force-fitting players into that group.

There has been a clear declaration of purpose in the way they have built. And that is what every team is striving for.