Orlando Magic: Can Wesley Iwundu be their x-factor this season?

The Orlando Magic had an x-factor to help them to the playoffs last season, can Wesley Iwundu be that person this time out?

It’s been a weird ride for the Orlando Magic since the All-Star break. Everything we thought we knew about them has flipped in the last few weeks, with the offense coming to life and their defensive stagnation continuing.

This has kept the Magic in the hunt for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference by winning enough games through high volume scoring, despite important players like Aaron Gordon and Markelle Fultz missing some time through injury. This did not look likely as recently as one month ago.

If they’re going to get back to the postseason and look good doing it though, they are going to need an x-factor that helps to get them there. Somebody who chips in with energy and timely baskets/stops. This is the role Khem Birch filled for them last season, the backup center seizing his moment when Mohamed Bamba went down with injury.

History looks to be repeating itself right now, and this time Wesley Iwundu could be the beneficiary. Evan Fournier has missed the last three games through injury, but rather than see the offense take a step back without one of their better scorers, the team is flourishing. They are 2-1 during that period, but 3-0 in the last three games Iwundu has started, going back as far as a win over the Detroit Pistons before the All-Star break.

But how has this happened? Does it spell trouble for the Brooklyn Nets, who are right there with the Magic for the seventh seed but who are missing their two best players the rest of the way and who just fired their head coach. It starts with the unassuming nature of Iwundu in his role, something we’ve seen before.

Iwundu doesn’t need a lot of the ball to be productive, and in actual fact he does his best work off of it. This is something the Orlando Magic have lacked going back years now, but which Terrence Ross is able to bring on the offensive end at least for weeks at a time.

Defensively Iwundu is better than Fournier, and the rating the Magic have on the court when both are on the court (103.2 for Iwundu, compared to 110 for Fournier) illustrates this. The 30.8 percent he is shooting from 3-point range on the year looks bad, yet in January when he was getting more consistent run he shot a sizzling 46.9 percent from deep.

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So why has he not been playing more before now? After all, every time Iwundu is given more run, whether it was this season or last, he has usually performed well enough to warrant a bigger role. It is hard for head coach Steve Clifford to trust a former second-round pick over a guy like Fournier who has been a foundational piece for years now.

But with Fournier an unrestricted free agent in 2020/21 (he will surely pick up his player option for next season before then), the Magic would be wise to pay attention to what Iwundu is doing. He is the perfect team guy, receiving DNPs and starts and playing the exact same way. That is hard to find in the league today.

His productivity doesn’t jump off the page, but the organization are banking on other players such as Gordon and Nikola Vucevic for that. Just like Birch last season, who ended up averaging 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds, what he does goes beyond basic numbers. His fit as a 3-and-D guy next to people who require the ball more works better too.

This is why the Orlando Magic’s recent back-to-back wins away from home has been surprising, especially the 126-106 hammering they gave the Houston Rockets on their own court on Sunday night. But when you look at what Iwundu has been quietly doing, it makes complete sense.

In that win over the Rockets he had eight points in under five minutes, and in the early goings was the most aggressive player on the court for the Magic on both ends. He drove to the basket against an all-small opponent and charged down attempts at the other end of the court. Iwundu would only score one more point the rest of the way, but that’s the beauty of his play.

A year ago Khem Birch and the defensive rating of 107 the Orlando Magic had after the All-Star break when he was on the court was enough to power them to the playoffs. Wesley Iwundu’s methods of helping are different and have the potential to make more of a two-way difference, but they may end up being just as important. Who could have predicted that to start the season?