Orlando Magic

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1989
• Home arena: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
• Owner: RDV Sports, Inc.
• Team colors: Blue, black, and silver

Overview

The Orlando Magic is a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Eastern Conference. The Magic joined the NBA as part of a four-team expansion in the late 1980s and chose their name as a nod to the region’s major tourist attraction—Walt Disney World. Orlando’s early struggles paved the way for it to draft dominant center Shaquille O’Neal, who led the franchise to the NBA Finals in his third year with the team. While the Magic have made numerous playoff appearances, they have been at their best with an imposing big man under the basket. After O’Neal left, the Magic played mostly average basketball until the arrival of center Dwight Howard in 2004. With Howard in the lineup, the Magic made six straight playoff appearances and advanced to the 2009 NBA Finals. In the late 2010s, center Nikola Vucevic was the key piece of a rebuilding effort that saw the Magic break a six-year playoff drought.

History

In the mid-1980s, Orlando businessperson Jim Hewitt decided to take a proactive approach to bringing an expansion franchise to Central Florida. Even before the NBA announced its future expansion plans, Hewitt lured away Philadelphia 76ers general manager Pat Williams to join the Orlando effort and began the process of selecting a team name. Hewitt and Williams organized a name-the-team contest in 1986, seeking fan input through the Orlando Sentinel. Of the 4,178 entries received, the most popular was Challengers, a reference to the Space Shuttle Challenger that had exploded upon takeoff in January 1986, killing all seven onboard. Other suggested names were Floridians, Orbits, Flamingoes, and Aquamen. A panel of judges that included Orlando community leaders reviewed the list and narrowed down the choices to four: Magic, Tropics, Heat, and Juice. The panel eventually chose Magic as a reference to local tourist mecca Walt Disney World and its Magic Kingdom.

The NBA had originally planned on creating three new franchises in 1987, with one of the teams located in Florida; however, both Miami’s and Orlando’s bids were received so well, that the league decided to award a franchise to both cities. Hewitt’s group paid $32.5 million for a team that would begin play in the 1989–1990 season. Miami’s new team was called the Heat and began play in 1988 along with the Charlotte Hornets. The Minnesota Timberwolves were the fourth expansion team and also joined the NBA in 1989 along with the Magic.

As is typical of most expansion teams, Orlando struggled in its first year, winning a franchise-low of eighteen games. Year two was only slightly better. One bright note was the play of point guard Scott Skiles who set an NBA record with thirty assists in a game on December 30, 1990, a record that still stands as of 2020. Orlando finished with the NBA’s second-worst record in 1991–1992 but caught a break when it won the top pick in the 1992 draft lottery. The prize was seven-foot-one center Shaquille O’Neal, whose massive frame made him a dominating player at Louisiana State University. Nicknamed “Shaq,” O’Neal’s presence on the court lifted the Magic to a .500 record and a tiebreaker away from their first playoff appearance. That bad break turned out to be Orlando’s good fortune as it meant the team was eligible for the 1993 draft lottery. Despite having the lowest odds of getting the top pick, the Magic were lucky enough to win the lottery for a second straight year. Orlando chose forward Chris Webber and then traded him to Golden State for guard Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.

Now led by Shaq and Penny, the Magic became one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, making their first playoff appearance in 1994. Orlando had the conference’s best record in the 1994–1995 season and advanced to the NBA Finals, only to lose to the Houston Rockets. The Magic also made the Eastern Conference Finals in 1996 where they faced Chicago, but the Michael Jordan-led Bulls proved too much and swept the series. Prior to the start of the 1996–1997 season, O’Neal left the Magic for a $120-million free-agent deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. The loss crippled the Magic’s drive for a championship but did not eliminate the team from playoff contention. Orlando made the playoffs in 1997 and 1999 and again from 2001 to 2003; however, each time the team was bounced out in the opening round. In 2003–2004, the Magic won only twenty-one games—the worst record in the NBA—and set the stage for another draft day prize.

The Magic won the 2004 draft lottery and selected six-foot-ten center Dwight Howard. Howard, who entered the draft right out of high school, took some time to get acclimated to the NBA. By 2007, he had improved enough to lead the Magic to the playoffs, and a year later, they won their division and topped the fifty-win mark for the first time since Shaq left. Orlando finished the 2008–2009 season with fifty-nine wins and advanced to the second NBA Finals in franchise history. The result was the same as the first, as the Magic lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. Orlando made the Eastern Conference Finals in 2010 but fell to the Boston Celtics.

Orlando traded Howard after the 2011–2012 season, and the franchise soon fell from playoff contention. The team failed to top thirty-five wins from 2013 to 2018 and finished no better than fourth in its division each time. As the team began to rebuild, one of its key pieces was a player acquired in the Dwight Howard trade. International prospect Nikola Vucevic came over in the deal and slowly began establishing himself as one of the league’s better centers. With Vucevic leading the way, Orlando won its division in the 2018–2019 season and made the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

In 1991, the Magic franchise was sold to Richard DeVos, cofounder of the direct-selling company Amway. DeVos owned the team through his company, RDV Sports, Inc., until his death in 2018. Since 1989, Orlando’s logo has featured a silver-and-blue basketball sporting a trail of stars. In the original logo, the “A” in Magic was replaced by a silver star. In 2000, the logo was given a sleeker look and placed below the name. In a 2010 upgrade, the logo was modernized with the team name set in block type and the star-A in Magic removed.

Notable players

The first draft pick in Magic history was Nick Anderson, a guard/forward out of the University of Illinois. Anderson played for Orlando from 1989 to 1999 and is the franchise’s second all-time leading scorer with 10,650 points. Anderson was named to the team’s hall of fame in 2014. Shaquille O’Neal spent four seasons with Orlando from 1992 to 1996 and made the NBA All-Star team each time. He was named the 1993 Rookie of the Year and led the NBA in scoring during the 1994–1995 season. O’Neal spent the bulk of his career with the Lakers where he won three NBA championships; he added a fourth with the Miami Heat in 2006. Over his nineteen-year career, O’Neal scored 28,596 points—eighth all-time in NBA history—and pulled in 13,099 rebounds—thirteenth most all-time. He made fifteen All-Star teams and won the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 2000. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

“Penny” Hardaway was a four-time All-Star over his six seasons with Orlando before being traded in 1999. He was named to the team’s hall of fame in 2017. In 2000, guard Tracy McGrady signed a free-agent deal with Orlando where he blossomed into a star. Before being traded to Houston in 2004, McGrady averaged 28.1 points per game—the highest mark in franchise history—and made four All-Star games. He won NBA scoring titles in 2003 and 2004, and his 8,298 points with Orlando is fourth on the team’s all-time list. McGrady played fifteen seasons with multiple teams and entered the Hall of Fame in 2017.

Point guard Jameer Nelson, who was selected later in the same draft that brought the Magic Dwight Howard, played in Orlando from 2004 to 2014 and made one All-Star appearance. His 3,501 assists are the most in team history. Howard was with the Magic from 2004 to 2012 and made six All-Star teams over that span. He won three straight NBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards from 2009 to 2011, and led the league in rebounds four times with the Magic. Howard holds franchise records in points scored with 11,435 and rebounds with 8.072. As of 2020, his 13,641 career rebounds are the fourteenth-most in NBA history. Nikola Vucevic has scored 9,180 points and pulled in 5,787 rebounds with the Magic from 2012 to 2020. His point total stands third in franchise history, and his rebound total is second.

Bibliography

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Cooper, Barry. “‘Challengers’ Popular Name for NBA Team.” Orlando Sentinel, 22 July 1986, www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1986-07-22-0240070043-story.html. Accessed 22 Apr. 2020.

Goldstone, Aaron. “Goldstone’s Top 30 players in Orlando Magic History: 1-10.” SB Nation, 23 Sept. 2018, www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/2018/9/23/17855566/goldstones-top-30-players-in-orlando-magic-history-1-10. Accessed 22 Apr. 2020.

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“Orlando Magic.” Sports E-cyclopedia, 29 Mar. 2018, sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/orlando/magic.html. Accessed 22 Apr. 2020.

“Orlando Magic Hall of Fame.” NBA.com, 2020, www.nba.com/magic/halloffame. Accessed 22 Apr. 2020.

“Orlando Magic Team History.” Sports Team History, 2020, sportsteamhistory.com/orlando-magic. Accessed 22 Apr. 2020.

Petkac, Luke. “The Origin Stories of Every NBA Team’s Name.” Bleacher Report, 9 Feb. 2020, bleacherreport.com/articles/1523132-the-origin-stories-of-every-nba-teams-name. Accessed 22 Apr. 2020.