Although the on-court results certainly wouldn’t suggest so, the 2021/22 season was an important one for the Orlando Magic. If last year’s trade deadline teardown was Ground Zero for the latest rebuild, the team’s recently completed 22-60 campaign represents the setting of a foundation which, fingers crossed, is hopefully both solid and sustainable.
So how does one measure success for a franchise that cares little about the final numbers showing on the scoreboard? Well, as we do each year around this time, let’s take a moment to figure out Orlando’s winners and losers for 2022, free from the actual standings, unmoored from singular results, and filtered through a broader contextual lens.