There was a lot of concern to close the Orlando Magic's 2026 season.
The Magic went on their six-game losing streak in March and fell to a three-way tie for eighth in the Eastern Conference and sat 10th because of the various tiebreakers.
The possibility of having to win two games in the Play-In Tournament -- and even two games on the road -- was realistic. There was loads of panic over the potential that the Magic would get left behind and miss the Playoffs entirely.
Even entering their elimination game against the Charlotte Hornets, there were plenty of pundits willing to predict the surging Hornets over the struggling Magic, sending an extra Lottery pick to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Orlando won that game 121-90, smacking the untested Charlotte team and advancing to the Playoffs for a third straight year. A crisis was averted.
The Magic are committed to winning until the 2030 season, when the team regains control over its entire draft future. The Desmond Bane trade will influence how the Magic act and how committed they remain to winning for the foreseeable future. Orlando will not benefit every year from falling short.
The 2027 season is the only year until 2031 that the Magic have complete control over their first-round pick. They send a top-2-protected pick swap to the Grizzlies in 2029 and their first-round pick outright in 2028 and 2030.
If there is a season for a disaster or where the Magic could take a chance at the Play-In and enter the new Lottery format, this might be the year.
Orlando's goal is still to win. The team should not be satisfied or happy with missing the Playoffs or being back in the Play-In Tournament for a third straight year.
That will only raise more serious questions for the team's future.
But with how competitive the Eastern Conference is expected to be this season, there should not be the same levels of panic at a disaster season as there might have been last season for making the Play-In or keeping an eye on the Lottery.
The new Lottery
The change in the potential for a disaster season is purely because of the league's new Lottery system, which the league will be trying for the next three seasons. This will be the only season where the Magic would have a pick that could take advantage of the new Lottery system.
In any case, the Orlando Magic are hoping this is not something they need to worry about.
They want to be in the Playoffs and do not want to think about playing the Lottery.
But the new Lottery format is expansive and gives teams even in the Play-In Tournament a chance at winning the Lottery. With how tight the East is, the Magic are realistically a team that could be in the mix.
The league is calling the concept the 3-2-1 format.
The teams with the 10-worst records in the league will all get three balls in the hopper, with the three-worst teams getting one ball removed as part of the relegation zone.
It does not pay to be among the worst teams in the league anymore -- perhaps one of the reasons a team like the Brooklyn Nets hung on to Michael Porter Jr. and acquired Julius Randle to try to win just enough to escape relegation and get the maximum ping pong balls.
The four teams that get the 9- and 10-seeds get two Lottery balls in the hopper. The teams that finish with the seventh and eighth seeds for the Play-In Tournament get a single ball in the hopper.
So if the Magic finish in the same position they did last year in the East, they would get a single Lottery ball and a chance to win the No. 1 pick.
It would give the Magic a 2.7 percent chance of winning the top pick and an eight percent chance to win a top three pick. Those are dramatically increased odds.
It is not just the No. 1 pick. . . or the second, third or fourth. Unlike previous seasons, all 16 picks will be drawn by Lottery. The team that finishes seventh or eighth has a 35 percent chance of winning a top-10 pick
If there is some consolation prize to the competitiveness of the Eastern Conference, is the Magic could end up with a better than 1-in-3 chance to land in the top 10 and add a talented, young (read: cheap) player to a team that still has a lot of potential.
If there is a season for the Magic to fall short, this is it. Not that they want it to happen.
The Magic's focus is on winning
This is a side story everyone will be following throughout the season. Hopefully it becomes a non story and this post is the end of it.
The Orlando Magic are not going to abandon their quest to make the Playoffs and go deep in the Playoffs. They know that with this payroll and this roster, they need to be as committed to winning as they can be, or else they need to reduce payroll and remake their roster.
Orlando will be balancing those decisions with the reality that the team does not control its own pick during this period of lottery upheaval.
It does not help that this year's Draft is not considered a strong one.
Kansas wing Tyran Stokes is the top player on Christopher Kline of Fansided's early top 60 big board. But he has questions about his shooting to answer. Slovenian 6-foot-7 guard Stefan Joksimovic fits the Magic's eye for a big point guard.
There are indeed a lot of questions about this upcoming draft class. If the Magic win a top pick for making the Play-In, they are not likely to get a star player. That is some bad timing.
But in all likelihood, the Magic are not looking for a player to reset their entire franchise. They would just need some young (read: cheap) talent to infuse into their roster and give it a booster shot -- like V.J. Edgecombe appears to have done for the Philadelphia 76ers.
A Play-In trip would not be considered a success for the Magic. It would lead to many questions for the roster. And a very contentious summer because there would be no other shot under these Lottery rules.
Orlando needs certainty in its future.
But if there is a season for the team to falter or remain in the Play-In. There is at least some escape hatch for the Magic to rebound through the Draft.
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