After being selected in the lottery just two seasons ago, Jett Howard hasn't become the shooter the Magic expected when they drafted him, and he's likely to be gone sooner rather than later.
The Magic over the years have been bereft of 3-point shooting talent, and Howard was supposed to help in that department. Howard shot 36.8 percent on 7.3 attempts per game from 3-point range in his one season at the University of Michigan and had a ton of upside as a shooter coming into the NBA.
For Orlando, this is a group that has been near the bottom of the league year in and year out in perimeter shooting. For context, the Magic's last five seasons have been in the bottom six of 3-point percentage, and they ranked 30th last season by shooting an abysmal 31.5 percent from distance.
Jett Howard's underwhelming tenure
The first two years of Jett Howard's career haven't been that friendly to him, and it doesn't appear as if it's going to get any better anytime soon. At least not in Orlando.
It was an underwhelming rookie season for Howard, who only played in 18 games for the Orlando Magic and never logged more than seven minutes in a single game.
Howard's rookie season was primarily spent developing in the G-League as he needed to work on his offensive arsenal and perimeter defense, while getting as many reps as possible. In 29 games for the Osceola Magic, Howard averaged 18.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, shot 44.9 percent from the floor, and 37.7 percent from distance.
Going into his sophomore campaign, there was an expectation that Howard would take that next step forward and establish himself as a reliable knockdown shooter, but that never came to fruition.
Howard, in 60 games for the Magic in 2024-25, averaged 4.5 points and 1.2 rebounds, while shooting 37.4 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from distance. Even with the Magic sustaining a litany of injuries and simultaneously allowing Howard an opportunity for an increased role, he was never able to fully capitalize on it.
Coaches are not sold on Jett
Howard hasn't transformed into the player that Orlando envisioned him to be, and that could be due to a handful of contributing factors. Howard hasn't developed fast enough, the coaching staff hasn't put him in a position to be successful, he hasn't had a real opportunity to showcase his talents, etc.
Probably the most damming thing to Howard's lack of time on the court is that head coach Jamahl Mosley would rarely, if ever, solidify and commit to Jett Howard in year two. In November of 2024, I asked Mosley where Howard was in terms of development and growth.
“A lot of the young guys that are tryna make their way into rotation, we’ve had constant conversations of knowing what it means to stay ready at any given moment," Mosley said. "But he [Howard] has done a great job of staying ready...each night is going to change depending on where we are with matchups and lineups."
Even fast-forwarding into mid-February, I followed up with a similar question to Mosley and got a nearly identical response.
“It’s always about staying ready, 'cause you never know when that opportunity is gonna present itself," Mosley said. "I think Cole Anthony is the prime example of that.”
Magic making moves
The Magic did exercise their third-year option on Howard's rookie contract, but there's no guarantee he's in Orlando for the foreseeable future.
Orlando made moves to add more depth to their backcourt this offseason by adding players like
Desmond Bane, Tyus Jones, and Jase Richardson. The Magic will also be getting Jalen Suggs back and banking on hopefully a big year three from Anthony Black.
To make matters worse, it looks as if the Magic whiffed on this pick every day that goes by. Orlando selected Howard over players like Gradey Dick, Jordan Hawkins, Keyonte George, and Dereck Lively II, who are all significantly better than Howard at this very moment in time.
There's little to no room for Jett Howard to get consistent minutes this year, and the front office will likely shop him around this season to bolster this roster further.