3 Underrated Eastern Conference rivals the Orlando Magic must watch out for

1. Miami Heat

The Miami Heat are the team most likely to mess up anyone’s plans in the Eastern Conference. Even being a play-in team did not stop them from getting all the way to the NBA Finals a few seasons ago. The phrase may be overused by now but it seems you can never count the Miami Heat out. They are always lurking. 

That may be even truer now that Jimmy Butler is playing for a new contract and Bam Adebayo just came off a successful run with Team USA in the Paris Olympics. This season, the Heat might actually put together a strong regular season instead of waiting for the playoffs to play up to their potential. 

If healthy, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Terry Rozier surrounded by Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. could cause some real problems in the Eastern Conference. The Magic should be especially wary. Despite not generally putting tougher a strong regular season in recent years, the Heat have won seven of the last ten games against the Magic.

Even last season when the Magic were much better than the previous years, the Heat secured three of the four wins. The Heat may not always be mentioned with the other projected top teams in the Eastern Conference but that doesn’t mean the Magic shouldn’t keep an eye on them.