The Orlando Magic are a team that everyone around the league is trying to get their heads around.
Many NBA observers believe the Magic are set to become one of the teams on the rise. They see the team as a team that could spoil in the Eastern Conference and breakthrough into the postseason. Magic fans are certainly expecting that.
Everyone though is waiting to see the Magic prove themselves before they fully commit. Just look at the number of national TV games the Magic got in their 2023-24 schedule — that would be one, just one game on traditional national TV.
Orlando still has a lot to prove and a lot to show on the court.
The Orlando Magic are still a team with a lot to prove before analysts and observers invest in them. That starts with each individual. And from a fantasy basketball perspective, that can also be tough to figure.
That goes for everyone too. It is not just about the team coming together to win more and climb the standings, this season is also about individual players taking steps forward and developing further. This is about figuring out which players will be part of the bigger picture.
Those are two separate tracks then: Which players will improve individually and which ones will fit into the bigger picture with the team? Those are both things the Magic will be examining and exploring throughout this season.
The team aspect is easy to analyze. But fans engage with the NBA in several ways, including playing fantasy sports.
Trying to project, then, who among this team is going to shine and stand out individually and from a perspective that can help a fantasy team win is much more difficult. What is valuable in fantasy is someone who can score efficiently and wrack up stats across multiple categories.
The Magic’s youth here certainly works against them. Young players are typically more inconsistent. And that inconsistency is likely what works against the Magic both in trying to predict what the team does this year as a whole and what each individual will do.
Nobody will blame you if avoid some of the Magic’s players in your fantasy drafts because of this. Still, just because the Magic are not full of fantasy studs for your season, it does not mean the Magic are not a team that will come together and make a strong run as a unit.
It is all part of the intrigue of this season. And as we get closer to the start of training camp, we will be thinking about how all of these players will perform and grow this season.
With that in mind, it is time to think about some of the bigger fantasy storylines for the upcoming season and which players you perhaps should invest in as you prepare for your fantasy basketball season.