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The Orlando Magic's rebuild is coming along nicely. After years of treading water with a Nikola Vucevic-led core, the Magic are now on the precipice of turning it around thanks to the rapid development of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. The Magic have drafted well in recent years as well, taking the likes of Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black, and Jett Howard, not mention putting Markelle Fultz and Wendell Carter Jr. — two players whose stocks were dipping before they got to Orlando — in position to succeed.
At the end of the day, the Magic's hopes of making a team-wide leap for the upcoming season will hinge on Banchero and Wagner, the tentpoles of their rebuild. The Magic know this, therefore adding more shooting to the roster by signing Joe Ingles to a two-year, $22 million deal in free agency. Ingles is also a willing mover of the basketball, so he should be able to fill a lot of minutes for the Magic on the wing.
Orlando also waived Bol Bol, essentially freeing up frontcourt minutes for Carter, Moe Wagner, Goga Bitadze, as well as Chuma Okeke and Jonathan Isaac for when the latter returns.
But could there be more moves in the offing for the Magic given their abundance of talent at a certain position — a trade, perhaps, that could better balance out the roster and help them fill a position of need in the process?
Here is the need the Magic must still address after the first weekend of free agency has passed.
Magic's biggest need: Figure out their point guard situation
During three of the past four iterations of the NBA Draft, the Magic decided that the best player available on the board for them to take was a point guard. They selected Cole Anthony in 2020, Jalen Suggs in 2021 (even taking him over Franz Wagner, a player who has been better thus far over the past two seasons), and, most recently, they picked Anthony Black with the sixth overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft. And they already had Markelle Fultz on the roster.
There's nothing inherently wrong with picking who the team believes is the best player left on the draft board. In fact, doing so is encouraged. Drafting for need is a cardinal sin in the NBA — the cream always rises to the top anyway, so it's not too bad of a problem if a team has too many good players playing the same position.
But for the Magic, they may have to decide how to best allocate minutes in the backcourt without hampering the development of the young talents they've invested a considerable lot into. This isn't even factoring in the presence of Gary Harris and Jett Howard, two players who should warrant minutes at the 2.
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One would think that Markelle Fultz would be a nailed-on starter for the Magic. Fultz began the 2022-23 season nursing an injury, but when he returned, he resembled more closely the player many thought he would develop into when the Philadelphia 76ers selected him first overall in 2017.
Fultz is an unselfish player, an offensive conductor through and through who doesn't take too many bad shots and gets to his spots with ease. He is also a strong asset on the defensive end, navigating screens well and making use of his physical tools by being disruptive in the passing lanes.
Anthony Black's playstyle is similar, although he's more explosive in getting to the rim than Fultz. Black, like Fultz, doesn't shoot the ball particularly well from deep — but he is an unselfish player. And at 6'6, his defense should make him a strong fit alongside Wagner and Banchero.
However, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero are capable ballhandlers as well. Thus, one would think that playing alongside a 3 and D guard would suit them better. To that end, Jalen Suggs — should he continue to develop his outside shot — could end up being the best fit, with Cole Anthony settling into a sixth-man role that suits his gun-slinging ways more appropriately.
The good thing about the Magic's four point guards is that they're not exactly incompatible with each other on the court. Fultz, Black, and Suggs are solid defenders as well, so it's not like they'd be facing terrible mismatches should they play up a position or two.
But there are only so minutes to go around. These years are so crucial for their development, and there's no better way to develop than to play more often — Suggs, in particular, could find himself lost in the shuffle even further. And he's only 22 years old.
This is not to say that trading away one of their four point guards is necessary. But the Magic coaching staff should be intently watching how this offseason battle shakes up — and whether consolidating some of their talents could end up being the most worthwhile thing for them to do with the free agency dust continuing to settle.
