Orlando Magic: 5 players most likely to make the jump in 2018-19
By Luke Duffy
5. D.J. Augustin
It seems extremely unlikely to think that a point guard who is 30 and has career averages of 9.6 points and 3.8 assists per game can morph into the team’s best player, but try and keep an open mind.
Augustin is a former lottery pick, and over the course of his career has tended to follow an average season with a better one.
Last season, his second with the team, may have been that so-called better campaign (he was pretty poor in year one with the team), but there’s no reason he can’t build on that this year.
Once the new season tips off, Orlando will be the team he has spent the second-longest amount of time with in his career (after the Charlotte Bobcats, who drafted him in 2008).
Hold up how have the Magic still not managed to add a second PG behind DJ Augustin (lmao)???
— The Halfcourt Press (@THalfCourtPress) August 7, 2018
Augustin looks settled with the Magic now and is continuing to grow into a veteran leader for the younger players on the roster.
Another reason Augustin could make a huge and unexpected leap toward leading this team as their best and most consistent player is the situation he now finds himself in.
The Magic’s depth chart at point guard is among the worst in the league, and with Jerian Grant and Isaiah Briscoe as his chief competition for minutes, there’s no reason he can’t be the starting point guard for this team.
It is highly unlikely, and in truth if Augustin is Orlando’s best player then something will have gone very wrong with their rebuild. But stranger things have happened.