Youth is Name of the Game For Thunder, Magic Rebuilds

Only one team earned the chance to draft ahead of Oklahoma City, meaning only one team got to pick anyone from the draft pool without any competition.

The Orlando Magic.

The Magic secured the No. 1 pick, with the help of the NBA lottery machine and a 22-60 record, the second worst in the league last season.

They selected Paolo Banchero out of Duke, a surprise to some as many had linked the Magic to Jabari Smith.

Banchero joins a lineup with tons of youth, similar to Oklahoma City. To grasp the youth in Orlando, the Magic have just two players over 27 years old in Gary Harris and Terrence Ross.

The Thunder have three players in that range, Kenrich Williams, Derrick Favors and Mike Muscala. The majority of their key players are 21 or younger, the others are mostly at or around the age of 24.

The Thunder are similar to the Magic in that sense. The best player on OKC’s roster is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who’s just 24 years old. Josh Giddey, another Thunder starter is just 19 and entering his second NBA season. Darius Bazley is 22 and entering his fourth season with OKC.

That marks the main difference between Oklahoma City and Orlando. The youth in OKC have the experience over the youth with the Magic. The Thunder have the experience and youth meshed, which puts them slightly ahead of the Magic in terms of the rebuild process, especially with both teams focusing more on young talent over signing free agents.

The Thunder and Magic both have high upside this season and for the future, but in terms of who’s ahead it’s hard to overlook the Thunder’s stockpile of draft picks for the future, especially with loaded classes coming up.

With that, Oklahoma City has the slight overall advantage over Orlando but either team could beat the other this season with the fresh young talent on both sides.

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