The calendar has turned to June. The NBA Finals are on the horizon. The offseason is getting closer and closer.
The Orlando Magic are still assessing what happened in their successful 2024 season and what they can learn from their trip to the playoffs.
It is already an offseason for the Magic running wild with trade rumors and free agency possibilities. Nobody really has a sense of what the Magic will do even if there are clear needs they need to fill.
The whole offseason runs concurrently. Free agency begins on the evening of June 30. The Magic will know what they are doing long before then. And they will know what they need to do when the Draft begins on June 26 (the second round will take place on June 27).
Orlando is in an unfamiliar place. They are picking outside the lottery for the third time since Dwight Howard left in 2012. The Magic's pick at No. 18 is the latest the team has picked in the first round since trading Anzejs Pasecniks with the No. 25 pick in 2017. Even in that draft, the Magic picked Jonathan Isaac at No. 6.
The Magic are not relying on their draft pick the same way they have for much of the last decade. That only adds to the intrigue of how the Magic approach this pick.
Orlando is a playoff team now. It has specific needs it must fill to take the next steps. That will surely affect how they view this draft. Still, everyone should be chasing the best player they can find. Orlando still needs to upgrade talent too.
That is what will make this draft tricky. It is not considered a particularly strong draft—especially for those teams at the top of the draft. But there are still players to find. There are always players to find in the draft. This is not an opportunity to skip.
And so as the calendar turns to June and the countdown to the draft begins, it is time to look more closely at how the draft might shake out.
This is our first mock draft of this draft season: