For the 450 players that comprise NBA rosters, every night is a performance review. It’s a basketball-oriented business, as Magic coach Jamahl Mosley called it Sunday, but it’s a business nonetheless.
Every night, the on-court product is the reflection of the front office who crafted it. In the case of the Orlando Magic, that task is handled primarily by president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman and general manager Anthony Parker.
This current Magic roster, constructed around a core of 2021 top-eight picks Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner, plus 2022 No. 1 overall pick Paolo Banchero, has accelerated the Magic’s rebuild. When Orlando dealt off Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon at the 2021 trade deadline – the reset button was hit.
Now, Orlando is one of the NBA’s surging young teams and is on the cusp of perennial contention in the Eastern Conference. They’ve began gaining more respect from commentators, coaches and players alike around the league.
That carried over into a recent poll conducted by The Athletic of the best front offices in the NBA, which gathered the opinions of 40 executives around the league.
The Magic finished 7th in the poll, receiving one second-place vote, three third-place votes, and appeared on nine ballots.
Scoring for the poll followed the same criteria as MVP voting – 10 points were awarded for first place, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth.
The one rule execs were given was that they could not vote on their own team.
To see the full list from The Athletic, plus insight into how each team gained their ranking, CLICK HERE.
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