Orlando Magic: 3 players facing the most pressure in 2018-19

1. Aaron Gordon

Who else? Aaron Gordon enters this season with the most pressure on his shoulders for a whole host of obvious reasons. Luckily for him, he also received an extension on his rookie contract this summer, and is being paid $80 million over the next four seasons to shoulder that burden.

After submitting easily the best and most promising season of his young career last year, Orlando had no choice but to commit to Gordon for the long-term. Despite this, they still managed to pay him far less than what other young players are making today, meaning he can be moved in the future.

Right now though, and in no particular order, here are the most important things Gordon has to do for a Magic franchise that needs help in essentially all areas.

• Put fans in seats and be the most exciting player in Florida
• Continue to improve his 3-point shooting from last season (33.6 percent)
• Be the face of the franchise and make the Magic more marketable
• Improve defensively alongside Bamba and Isaac
• Stay healthy (Gordon appeared in only 58 games last season)
• Lead a playoff push that may ultimately fall flat, but is at least attempted
• Sells jerseys and merchandise

On top of all of this, because of the potential of Bamba and Isaac together on the court, Gordon may have to spend some time playing as a small forward. He has done this before, under former head coach Vogel, and it did not work at all.

Being a better shooter may help Gordon’s cause here, but it is still a lot to ask. One player can only do so much, and the help around him isn’t promising either. The Magic are going to be pretty bad again this season, but now that Gordon is earning the big bucks, more of their shortcomings will be placed at his feet.

So it is not only the pressure to continue to improve and dazzle audiences that makes Gordon the top candidate on this list, it is the spotlight and manner in which he will be expected to achieve this as well.

The Magic are not a playoff team, no matter how good Gordon is, and he is not going to get a lot of help either. For a guy being paid like a franchise player, however, that’s what’s expected.