Who would the Orlando Magic protect and expose in a 2025 expansion draft?
Tier 4: Would be Really Hard to Leave Unprotected
9. Cole Anthony
10. Moe Wagner
11. Jett Howard
It should be pretty easy to see how quickly those eight spots can get filled. The expansion draft is meant to make teams make difficult decisions and leave some valuable players exposed to stock the fortunes of the new team.
There is some gaming usually that goes into this too.
Expansion teams typically operate with a limited salary cap. So teams are incentivized to protect younger players on smaller contracts but could potentially expose key players to the expansion draft. They may have to make deals to secure.
That is what ESPN's mock expansion draft did, having the Orlando Magic attach the Denver Nuggets' 2025 first-round pick to protect Cole Anthony and have Las Vegas take veteran Cory Joseph, a player the Magic are probably less invested in for their long-term future.
The Orlando Magic have done this in real life too. They gave up a second-round pick to ensure the Vancouver Grizzlies did not take Darrell Armstrong in the 1995 expansion draft (they took Rodney Dent instead).
A first-round pick is probably a high price. But that gives some hint of the dealing that goes into making the expansion draft work.
The reality is that unless the Magic want to expose one of their rookies, they would have to make valuable bench players like Cole Anthony or Moe Wagner available in the expansion draft. That might be too much and there would be a debate.
The bench was one of the Magic's superpowers last year. They had the fourth-highest-scoring bench in the league last year. Anthony was a big part of that early in the season. And Wagner was vital for his scoring consistency throughout the season, especially when the team dealt with injuries.
There is a reason why the Magic would try to do something to make sure an expansion team did not take these players straight up. And when expansion does happen, there will certainly be a category of player like this.
The other player to include in this tier is Jett Howard, for the reasons described with his fellow young players like Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva.
The Magic were willing to defer a year with him. That does not dim their prospects for him. But Howard lost a year to prove what he can do. And the Magic were willing to sacrifice that year.