COVID-19 unexpectedly forced the NBA season to a screeching halt. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive, and the league and other sports leagues immediately shut down to protect players, coaches, employees and their fans’ health. The coronavirus’ specter continues its spread nationally and abroad, stressing hospitals, economies and communities to the brink. Without basketball,…
Fresh off their most successful season since the Dwight Howard era—albeit a 42-40 record, 7th-place finish and five-game first-round ouster—the Orlando Magic are largely running back the same group. They re-signed All-Star center Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross and signed forward Al-Farouq Aminu in free agency, but they otherwise valued continuity after their first playoff…
The 2019-20 NBA season is just around the corner. After an offseason chock-full of player movement, the title race appears as wide-open as it has been in years. Over the coming weeks, we will examine one big question hanging over each team heading into the season. We’ll continue today with the Southeast Division, where two…
In this episode of The NBA Podcast, Morten Jensen (@msjnba), Bryan Toporek (@btoporek) and special guest Jeff Siegel (@jgsiegel) of Peachtree Hoops and Early Bird Rights preview the Southeast Division ahead of the 2019-20 NBA season. Could the Atlanta Hawks make the playoffs this year? Are the Orlando Magic the favorites in the division? How…
While a number of playoff teams underwent seismic changes this offseason, the Orlando Magic largely opted for continuity instead. Fresh off a career-best season, center Nikola Vucevic re-signed on a four-year, $100 million deal that descends in value each season. The Magic also re-signed backup center Khem Birch to a two-year, $6 million deal and…
Ever since trading away Dwight Howard in August 2012, the Orlando Magic have been stuck in rebuilding purgatory. A series of boneheaded free-agent signings and trades rendered them too good to tank but not good enough for the playoffs, leaving them mired in the NBA’s worst kind of no-man’s land. Oddly enough, Los Angeles Lakers…
