- Location: Orlando, Florida, USA
- Home court: Amway Center
- G.M: John Hammond
- Coach: Jamahl Mosley
- Star: G Jalen Suggs
- 2021 Season: 22-60, failed to make the playoffs.
- NBA Titles: None
- Greatest Player: C Shaquille O’Neal
- Factoid: Karyn Williams might be the youngest person in North American pro sports franchise history to have picked a team’s name. Karyn Williams was seven when she visited her father, Pat Williams, a founding member of the Magic, from their home in Pennsylvania.
After going to all the theme parks and attractions in Central Florida (Magic Kingdom, anyone?), she told her father before boarding the flight home that she loved Orlando.
“This place is like magic,’ she reportedly told her father.
A team name was born.
It’s a good thing the rides in Disney World have height, not age, restrictions (the two often go hand in hand). If age was the deciding factor, half the Orlando Magic team might not be eligible to ride Space Mountain.
The Magic are fourth youngest team in the NBA (now probably third after the Spurs released 19-year-old Joshua Primo) heading into the 2022-23 season. Which means the team is full of potential, which is the story of the franchise.
When Orlando businessman Jim L. Hewitt approached Pat Williams, then the GM of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1985 about bringing and NBA franchise to Central Florida, potential, along with possibility, were the keywords.
The white beaches, golf, fishing, and theme parks were huge attractions. The warm weather was a welcome mat for Northerners tired of shoveling snow.
An NBA franchise would give Orlando a stamp of legitimacy. Mickey, meet Shaquille.
Let your imagination run wild. What would a victory parade look like in Orlando? It already has the floats. It has the performers. It has the props.
And maybe, just maybe, it has the young core of players that can develop into a championship team:
Former Duke star Paolo Banchero was the first player take in the 2022 NBA Draft. Former Gonzaga star Jalen Suggs was the fifth pick in the 2021 draft. Former Michigan star Franz Wagner was the eighth pick in 2021. Wendell Carter, Jr. was the seventh pick in 2018.
A little magic never hurt any franchise but what the Magic really need is some time for these talented young guns to come together. It may not happen in 2022-23 or 2023-2024 but if this Orlando team wins it all, it could get more than a parade.
Disney might come up with an Orlando Magic Slam Dunk Championship ride. Only requirement is an NBA title.