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Orlando Magic 2024 Mock Draft Review: What the mock drafts say about Magic's needs

The NCAA Tournament is on the horizon, reflecting a key date in draft preparation and focus throughout the league. The Orlando Magic are not thinking fully about their draft needs while in the midst of a playoff chase, but who they target might say a lot about them.

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Wake Forest's Hunter Sallis is the kind of big guard everyone knows the Orlando Magic like as we turn a brief eye to the NBA Draft.
Wake Forest's Hunter Sallis is the kind of big guard everyone knows the Orlando Magic like as we turn a brief eye to the NBA Draft. / Cory Knowlton-USA TODAY Sports
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Orlando Magic 2024 NBA Mock Draft Roundup

Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo, ESPN - Dalton Knecht, Tennessee

Christopher Kline, Fansided - Dalton Knecht, Tennessee

A lot of Orlando Magic fans are going to know the name Dalton Knecht. If not, they probably should at this point in the draft process.

Quite simply, this guy is a bucket and a shooter. At 6-foot-6, the guard has the size the Magic want with the ability to hit a ton of shots that this team is missing.

Knecht is averaging 21.1 points per game and shooting 39.7 percent from three, transferring over similar numbers from his last year at Northern Colorado last year. Knecht has had a long journey to get to this point and he is an older player, which might mean he is closer to contributing quickly.

It is a good sign that he worked hard to go from junior college to Northern Colorado to the SEC Player of the Year at Tennessee. That shows a willingness to work and believe in himself that will be important.

But the shooting and scoring is the big thing for him. He has a 40-point game in a loss to Kentucky at the end of the season and 11 games of 25 points or more this season. That is some elite scoring at the college level.

ESPN's last mock draft came out in February. It feels more likely that Knecht has played himself into the Lottery with these big scoring performances. Ignore his poor 14-point showing in the SEC Tournament, he will be one of the players to watch in the NCAA Tournament.

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