Orlando Magic: Ranking the Best Players by Position in Team History
By Phil Watson
The Orlando Magic were the result of four years of work from Orlando developer and banker Jim Hewitt and former Philadelphia 76ers general manager Pat Williams, who convinced people to put $100 deposits down on season tickets for a basketball team that didn’t exist.
The support was enough to convince the NBA to include Orlando as part of a four-team, two-year expansion that began with teams starting play in Charlotte and Miami in 1988 and in Minnesota and Orlando in 1989.
The Magic’s history started in stunning fashion as they beat the New York Knicks 118-110 in just their second game. The team’s first pick in the June 15, 1989, expansion draft was New York forward Sidney Green and in the team selected Nick Anderson out of Illinois as their first-ever draft pick in the 1989 NBA Draft.
The team hit the lottery—literally—in 1992 and 1993, landing the top pick in back-to-back years and turning those picks into Shaquille O’Neal in 1992 and Chris Webber in 1993. Orlando shipped Webber to the Golden State Warriors for No. 3 overall pick Anfernee Hardaway and the foundation of the early Magic team was in place.
Orlando’s run with O’Neal and Hardaway culminated in a trip to the 1995 NBA Finals, where they were swept by the Houston Rockets. O’Neal would leave via free agency a year later and the Magic bounced around on the periphery between bad team and mediocre team for much of the next decade.
Then in 2004, again with the No. 1 overall pick, the Magic took Atlanta prep phenom Dwight Howard and found themselves in the Finals again in 2009, this time losing in five games to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Magic have made the playoffs 14 times in their 24 seasons, including six straight seasons from 2006-07 through 2011-12, before trading Howard to the Lakers in a three-team deal in the summer of 2012 to begin another rebuilding project.
So who are the best players by position in the history of the Orlando Magic?
NOTE: Players must have appeared in 250 regular-season games with the franchise to be considered for this list.
Hedo Turkoglu was the NBA’s Most Improved Player for the Orlando Magic in 2007-08 and a key component of their 2009 Eastern Conference championship squad. (Flickr.com photo by Keith Allison)
Small Forward: Hedo Turkoglu (2004-09, 2010-present)
When the Orlando Magic signed Hedo Turkoglu as a free agent in July 2004, they had no idea they’d be getting a cornerstone of an NBA Finals team. To that point, the 6’10” product of Turkey had started only 62 games in his first four years in the league and had averaged just 7.9 points and 3.7 rebounds a game.
A change of venue did Turkoglu a world of good. Over the next five years with the Magic, Turkoglu averaged 15.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists a game while shooting 38.5 percent from 3-point range. He was the NBA’s Most Improved player in 2007-08, when his scoring average rocketed from 13.3 points per game to 19.5 a night, while also going from four rebounds and 3.2 assists per game to 5.7 and five, respectively. The next year, Turkoglu averaged 16.8 points, 5.3 boards and 4.9 assists for the Magic team that stunned the Cleveland Cavaliers to advance to the NBA Finals.
In July 2009, Turkoglu parlayed that production into a five-year, $53 million deal from the Toronto Raptors. The sign-and-trade deal sent Turkoglu to the Raptors with the Magic getting cash back from Toronto and the Dallas Mavericks as part of a four-team deal that also included the Memphis Grizzlies.
But Turkoglu came back to Orlando in December 2010 with Earl Clark and Jason Richardson with Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus, cash and a 2011 first-round pick going to the Phoenix Suns in return. Turkoglu’s second stint in Orlando hasn’t been nearly as productive—he missed 13 games due to injury in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 campaign and played only 11 games this season due to injuries and a 20-game suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
But Turkoglu provided some fourth-quarter magic for the Magic in his first stint with the team:
Turkoglu is sixth on Orlando’s all-time scoring list with 7,216 points while ranking third with 794 3-pointers, fifth with 2,221 rebounds, sixth with 1,927 assists and 497 games, and ninth with 425 steals and 3.9 assists per game.
Apologies to: Dennis Scott and Donald Royal.
Power Forward: Horace Grant (1994-99, 2001-03)
Horace Grant is perhaps more well known for being part of Michael Jordan’s first three championship teams with the Chicago Bulls, but it was Grant’s arrival in Orlando as an unrestricted free agent in September 1994 that helped push the Magic to their first NBA Finals berth in 1995.
Grant was a two-time second-team All-Defensive selection with the Magic (1994-95 and 1995-96) and averaged 12.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in his first five seasons with the team, despite missing significant time with nagging injuries.
In June 1999, Grant was traded with second-round draft picks in 2000 and 2001 to the Seattle SuperSonics for Dale Ellis, Don MacLean, Corey Maggette and Billy Owens. But Grant returned to the Magic for another stint, signing as a free agent in July 2001. He started 76 games at center for the Magic in 2001-02, averaging eight points and 6.3 rebounds per game at age 36, but was limited to just five games in 2002-03. He left Orlando a second time in July 2003 to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Grant was a heady player, as evidenced by this shot against his former Bulls teammates to bail out Brian Shaw, who had thrown up a wild shot as the shot clock was expiring:
Grant’s offensive rating of 125.7 in 1994-95 is the highest single-season total in Orlando history
With 3,353 rebounds, Grant ranks fourth in Magic history while also ranking fourth with 415 blocks, a 50.2 percent field-goal mark and 8.2 rebounds per game, seventh with one block per game, eighth with 426 steals and tied for eighth with 411 games played.
Apologies to: Rashard Lewis, Bo Outlaw, Pat Garrity, Jeff Turner.
The Orlando Magic struck gold when they took Dwight Howard No. 1 overall in the 2004 NBA Draft. (Flickr.com photo by Keith Allison)
Center: Dwight Howard (2004-12)
In just 24 seasons, the Magic have been blessed to have two of the top centers the NBA has ever seen, but Howard gets the nod over Shaquille O’Neal … barely. Taken first overall out of the Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy in the 2004 NBA Draft, Howard blossomed into a superstar over his eight seasons in Orlando.
Howard was a six-time All-Star for the Magic and was Defensive Player of the Year three straight seasons (2008-09 through 2010-11), earning six All-NBA nods in the process, including first-team recognition five straight years (2007-08 through 2011-12). Howard led the NBA in rebounding four times for Orlando, twice was the league’s leader in blocked shots and led the league with a 61.2 percent field-goal mark in 2009-10. Three times, Howard had the best defensive rating in the NBA and he led the league in defensive win shares four times.
Howard was also the key component of the 2008-09 team that reached the NBA Finals and he finished runner-up to Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls in the Most Valuable Player voting in 2010-11.
In August 2012, Howard was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers with Earl Clark and Chris Duhon as part of a four-team deal that brought the Magic Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington and a 2014 first-round pick from the Denver Nuggets; Christian Eyenga, Josh McRoberts and a 2017 first-round pick from the Lakers; and Maurice Harkless, Nikola Vucevic and a future first-round pick from the Philadelphia 76ers. Orlando also sent Jason Richardson to the 76ers as part of the deal.
One of Howard’s greatest games was a 46-point, 19-rebound masterpiece against the Atlanta Hawks to open the 2011 playoffs:
Howard is the team’s single-season record holder with 1,161 rebounds in 2007-08, his 61.2 field-goal percentage in 2009-10, 916 free-throw attempts and a 94.2 defensive rating in 2010-11 and 14.5 rebounds per game in 2011-12. He also tied a team record first set by Steve Francis in 2004-05 when he registered 317 turnovers in 2006-07.
Howard is the Magic’s all-time leader with 11,435 points, 8,072 rebounds and 1,344 blocked shots. His 13.0 rebounds per game average is also tops in club history, as is his 98.1 defensive rating. He is also second all-time with 2.2 blocks per game and 621 games played, third with a 57.7 field-goal percentage, fourth with 626 steals and 10th all-time with 935 assists.
Apologies to: Shaquille O’Neal, Tony Battie, Andrew DeClercq.
Shooting Guard: Nick Anderson (1989-99)
Nick Anderson was Orlando’s first-ever pick in the NBA Draft, going 11th overall after leading Illinois to the Final Four in 1989. The pick paid off as Anderson grew with the franchise from expansion doormat to NBA Finalist.
Anderson was never a star in Orlando, but he was a solid performer who averaged 15.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game over his 10 years with the Magic. Unfortunately, Anderson is probably best remembered for his woes at the free-throw line in the 1995 NBA Finals, when his four misses in Game 1 set the tone for what would be a Houston Rockets’ sweep. The misses haunted him for the rest of his career: Prior to the 1995 Finals, Anderson shot an unspectacular 69.6 percent from the line but just 60.5 percent for the rest of his career.
In August 1999, Anderson was dealt to the Sacramento Kings for Tariq Abdul-Wahad and a first-round pick in 2003.
Since we already covered the whole missed free throws in the Finals thing, let’s look at Anderson’s 50-point explosion against the New Jersey Nets in 1993:
Anderson is Orlando’s all-time leader with 1,004 steals and 2,480 3-point attempts while he is second with 10,650 points and 900 3-pointers, third with 3,667 rebounds, fourth with 1.5 steals per game, fifth with 1,937 assists and 338 blocked shots and ninth with 15.4 points per game.
Apologies to: Tracy McGrady, J.J. Redick, Anthony Bowie, Keith Bogans.
Point Guard: Anfernee Hardaway (1993-99)
Anfernee Hardaway was a Golden State Warrior for about 15 minutes before the No. 3 overall pick was traded along with first-round picks in 1996, 1998 and 2000 to the Magic for No. 1 overall pick Chris Webber on draft night in June 1993.
Good move. Hardaway was a four-time All-Star in Orlando and was All-NBA three times, including first-team selections in 1994-95 and 1995-96. But he was bothered by knee problems, missing 23 games in 1996-97 and 63 in 1997-98 and was never quite the same. In his six years in Orlando, Hardaway averaged 19 points, 4.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists, but before the injuries those numbers were 19.7, 4.6 and 6.7, respectively.
In August 1999, Hardaway was dealt to the Phoenix suns as part of a sign-and-trade deal that brought Pat Garrity, Danny Manning and first-round draft picks in 2001 and 2002 to the Magic.
People forget just how good this guy was before the knees started to go. Here are Hardaway’s top 10 plays with the Magic:
Hardaway is Orlando’s single-season leader with 190 steals and 2.3 steals per game as a rookie in 1993-94. He is the franchise’s all-time leader with 1.9 steals per game and ranks third with 718 steals and 6.3 assists per game, fourth with 2,343 assists and 19 points per game, seventh with 7,018 points and ninth with 1,752 rebounds and 191 blocked shots.
Apologies to: Darrell Armstrong, Jameer Nelson, Scott Skiles.