2 Magic players who deserve a larger role this season, 2 who could lose minutes

The Orlando Magic have entered a post-rebuild stage that allowed fans to watch their team win plenty of games last season. And yet, the Magic are not even close to done yet. This is only the beginning. 

Over the next few seasons, fans will see things change in Orlando, whether that means watching a long-term player be traded or a newcomer breaking into the rotation and taking minutes from someone else. 

While the Magic aim to return to the playoffs and do their best to win a series, the 2024-25 season is still largely about development and figuring certain things out. Part of that is tinkering with rotations and learning who absolutely has to be a part of the Magic’s future and who might be expendable. 

Deserves a larger role: Anthony Black 

Anthony Black has only 69 regular-season games in a Magic jersey, but he is already beloved among fans. It is easy to get excited about a big guard with immense defensive potential if your team plays the way the Magic currently do. Nevertheless, Black’s role was limited last season. He only broke into the rotation due to injuries and did not have many responsibilities. In the playoffs, he only got on the court in games 3 and 4, playing a total of 11 minutes. 

In the 2024-25 season, Anthony Black deserves a larger role. One reason for that is simply that this might be the last season the Magic can afford to develop a young player who needs some time to work through mistakes. The more the Magic win, the higher expectations get and soon there will be only a tiny margin of error left for the team to work with. So, Black should get an opportunity to play a bigger role now, while the team can still afford to focus on his development. 

Plus, the Magic need to learn what they really got with their sixth overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Soon enough, it seems, Orlando will have to make a trade to take the team to the next level. By then, they need to know who should be off the table and who they can bear to move. 

At the same time, Black has already shown potential. He is exactly the kind of defender the Magic like and a guard rotation of Jalen Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Anthony Black would be great defensively. Black’s numbers did it jump off the page and he took few shots but he showed potential as a 3-point shooter. He converted 39.4 percent of his 1.4 3-point attempts per game. 

Now, it is time for the Magic to give Black a chance to show that he can do that at a higher volume and act as a secondary playmaker.