It has been a long week since the Orlando Magic were eliminated from the Playoffs in Game 7. But the week and the season that preceded it have gotten everyone very excited for the season ahead.
Everyone knows the Magic have tons of cap room to spend—somewhere near or more than $30 million depending on what they do with several team options and non-guarantees for next year. It is an exciting offseason for the Magic with a chance to make some significant improvements through free agents.
It has only been a week, but already fans are dancing with trade ideas involving plenty of big names. Betting markets are already predicting the Magic as favorites to land both trade targets and free agencies. The rumor mill is spinning with the potential for the Magic to add some big-name free agents like Paul George or Klay Thompson.
Orlando's front office may still be trying to reset and send all the operations people away to reset after a longer-than-normal season.
The work though continues with the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago this week. There, the Magic will get their first chance to interview and review prospects directly in preparation for the NBA Draft on June 27 and 28 (the first round is the 27th, the second round the following day).
The last piece of that puzzle came into place Sunday afternoon. The NBA Draft order was set with the Atlanta Hawks defying the odds and winning the Lottery with a 3.0 percent chance to land the top pick. It is always chaotic when a team that reached the Play-In Tournament gets the top overall pick.
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It gets even more chaotic considering the crossroads that Hawks team is at.
Orlando will not pick until No. 18 in the NBA Draft. It is a different kind of draft for the Magic. It has been a while since they were not in the Lottery and not looking for the best player to add to a collection of young players. Just as much as it has been a while since the team was trying to add to a team with growing Playoff aspirations—one of the goals from exit interviews was knowing how important homecourt advantage is for the Playoffs.
Now that the draft order is set and the future is in clearer focus there are a lot of questions for the Magic to begin to answer.
Everything for the offseason starts with the Draft. That is the first time that teams begin to think about offseason acquisitions. Draft day is when the transaction window starts going. Orlando is counting down to the draft now.
With the Lottery order set, there are plenty of questions that arise now for the Magic. While everyone is excited for free agency, the draft order has created some questions for the Magic to ponder for the next month.