The Orlando Magic are the midst of a five-year playoff drought, which is the longest stretch in the franchise's 28-year history.

However, guard Elfrid Payton is hoping that he can help lead the Magic to a strong start to set the tone early for this upcoming season, according to John Denton of Magic.com.

“We definitely want to set a tone for how this season is going to go,’’ Payton said of Monday’s mission. “Compete, play at a high level, play hard and play through mistakes – things are going to happen, we’re going to turn the ball over, miss shots and miss defensive assignments, but we have to play through it and not make repeated mistakes.’’

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It has been difficult for the Magic to make any strides forward over the last few seasons failing to win more than 35 games in any campaign during that stretch. In fact, they won just 29 games last season, which was six fewer than the year prior.

If Orlando hopes to take a significant leap in the 2016-17, it will require some progressive improvement form players such as Payton and Aaron Gordon to become consistent and reliable sources of production. The front office had also brought on board a few veteran players such as Arron Afflalo, Shelvin Mack, and Mo Speights to help with that process.

The opportunity is there for the Magic to finally snap their long playoff drought, it's just a matter of taking advantage of the situation in the now suddenly weaker Eastern Conference.