Orlando Magic: 5 bench players most likely to become starters

5. Khem Birch

We begin with the unlikely, and that is because center Khem Birch is likely to spend more time in the G League than getting meaningful minutes for this team — even more so when you consider the Magic have committed over $30 million to the big man combo of Bismack Biyombo and Nikola Vucevic this season.

Still, there’s reason to believe Birch could actually start some games for this team, and it begins with health.

Vucevic has never played every game in a season, and is always a candidate to pick up niggling injuries. While Biyombo is there to step in (he has only missed one game his last two years in the NBA), it may be that he is better suited to anchor the second unit with his defensive presence.

This could create an opportunity for Birch, who has looked full of enthusiasm and energy in the limited preseason minutes he has played. He has only scored four points in those games as well, but that’s exactly why he could become a starter for this team.

He has no problem doing the dirty work needed on the defensive end. For a team with ideas about being a top 10 outfit defensively, that is exactly what they’ll need for parts of the year.