Magic Postseason Odds Released: Buying Stock In The Youth?
Following the 1992 season, the Orlando Magic entered the NBA Draft holding the No. 1 pick after finishing the year with a 21-61 record.
The team used this pick to select a big man out of LSU named Shaquille O’Neal.
And while O’Neal's legacy is an undeniable top-10 player in NBA history, what immediately followed was the biggest turnaround in Magic history that saw a 20-win increase the next year to just miss the playoffs.
Will another No. 1 pick flip the franchise around this season?
Unfortunately, according to FanDuel it is highly unlikely, currently giving Paolo Banchero and company +1800 odds to be one of the final eight in the East, and -8000 odds to miss the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
“We saw some really encouraging moments with the young players on this team last season. But they still need to figure out how to win basketball games, and that takes a lot of time for a young group to figure out,” The Athletic said.
Those young players mentioned before provide a similar makeup to that 1993 squad that just missed the playoffs in 1993 at 41-41, but proceeded to reach the postseason the next four years including two Eastern Conference Finals appearances.
Taking a look at that roster, there was not a single player with more than nine years experience in the league, which compared to this year's matches up to a tee, with Terrence Ross being the lone veteran over the age of 29.
"The Orlando Magic's youth brigade hasn't achieved anything yet, but it makes up for that in volume," Bleacher Report writes. "Odds are, one or two of the players listed outside the core three will join Banchero, [Wendell] Carter and Wagner. If that happens, we'll probably need to move the Magic up a few spots in our next set of rankings."
The Magic start training camp late next month.
