Orlando Magic: 10 stars you forgot played for the Magic

The Orlando Magic may have never won a championship, but their history is filled with well-known players, not all of whom are remembered in Magic blue.

Despite only being a franchise since 1989, the Orlando Magic have had some really memorable players. Shaquille O’Neal probably being the most well known, while for a different generation of fans that player is Dwight Howard.

They’ve had everything from their Tracy McGrady‘s and Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway‘s in between, and came close to landing Tim Duncan to pair with Grant Hill too. In short, despite never winning a championship, the Magic have never gone too long without having a recognizable player suit up in the pinstriped blue.

In fact, the last eight years or so really represents the longest stretch that casual fans may not have been able to point out one of their best or most well-known players. Nikola Vucevic, an All-Star last year, would be known by some, with the Slam Dunk contest exploits of Aaron Gordon opening him up to the casual audience too.

Looking back though, and there are plenty of players who played for the organization who had done or would go on to become more well known at other stops in their career, putting their time in Orlando out of people’s minds. Most of these guys coming through in the nineties.

The following are 10 guys who were part of the franchise at one point or another, with honorable mentions going to Jaren Jackson Sr. (not a star but who knew Jaren Jackson Jr.’s father played for the Magic?), Spud Webb (only four games) and Zaza Pachulia (not a star but part of one of the greatest teams of all time with the Golden State Warriors).

10. Darko Milicic

The definition of the word star is going to be tested to its limits throughout this slideshow, and that is particularly true when talking about Darko Milicic. He is a star in his own way though, known more for being taken second overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 2003 draft over Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

That star outside of the NBA only shone brighter with a foray into kickboxing, and he continues to play basketball to this day. Somehow Milicic is still only 34, with his landing in Orlando overlooked because it was the move that came directly after his infamous run with the Pistons.

He did manage to play 110 games for the Magic, with this being a case of fans wiping this from their memories as much as it is people genuinely not realizing he played there. Milicic was only 20 when he was traded to the Magic, backing up franchise cornerstone Dwight Howard during his time there.

Milicic did manage to start 17 games, and the 23.1 minutes he averaged per contest shows that he was used. The 7.9 points and even worse 1.1 rebounds averaged during his time there, however, tell the bigger picture. Listed at seven feet tall, Milicic was never really very good at anything, other than just being out there and being a former second overall pick.

He played out his rookie contract and was unsurprisingly not brought back by the Magic. Instead, he signed with the Memphis Grizzlies for three years, $21 million, which even in today’s money seems like far too much. The only other notable piece of information around Milicic’s time with the Magic is that the first-round pick that went to the Pistons as part of the deal turned into Rodney Stuckey. If that is seen as the Magic really losing this trade, you know you’re not doing well.

9. Al Harrington

Again the definition of a star is different things to different people, and although Al Harrington was never an All-Star, he was one of the key pieces of some good Indiana Pacers outfits. By the time he got to Orlando in 2012 as part of the Dwight Howard trade bonanza, he was 32 and running on fumes from a career that had started when he was 18.

Being part of that mega-deal that sent Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers, and moved him from the Denver Nuggets to the Magic, is by far the most notable thing Harrington while with the franchise. He only appeared in 10 games for the franchise, before being waived. He didn’t start a single contest, as the team finished out the campaign 20-62, for the worst record in the league.

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There was no sense in keeping Harrington around, although he was arguably the most experienced player on the roster after Jameer Nelson once he got there. Keeping him would have taken up a roster spot for the younger guys the Magic were hoping to bring through, yet the argument could be made that his leadership would have been important as well.

His time spent playing with Reggie Miller and Chris Mullin early in his own career could have helped off the court, but nobody cared when the Magic moved on from him. They also got Vucevic from the Philadelphia 76ers in that same deal, with the young Montenegrin the player they looked to for long-term roster building.

Harington played 34 games for the Washington Wizards before bouncing out of the league for good, with stops in Chine, Australia and finally the Big 3 coming afterward. Pictures of him in a Magic uniform are hard to come by and with good reason.

8. Corey Maggette

Corey Maggette never made an All-Star team, but you could make the argument that he should have. In the 2004-05 season, he averaged 22.2 points for the LA Clippers to lead the organization in scoring. This put him 13th in the whole league, as he helped the team finish 37-45 alongside a fun group that included Elton Brand, Shaun Livingston and Chris Kaman.

But before his eight-year run with the Clippers, where he cemented himself as one of the 12 best players in franchise history, Maggette had a brief run with the Magic. He landed there on draft night in 1999 after being picked by the Seattle Supersonics, in a move that saw Horace Grant go the other way.

He managed 77 games with the Magic, starting five games, in his rookie season. His season-high in scoring that year was a 20 point effort against the Pistons, with Maggette showing early on that scoring at the professional level wasn’t going to be too much of a problem for him. It was a sign of things to come, but that would happen while in Los Angeles.

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Again it was a case of the Magic giving up on a player too soon (a recurring theme throughout the last decade as well), and if they’d kept him around as the roster improved, there is no telling how good he could have been next to a legitimate superstar.

The Magic also got nothing of note back for Maggette when they traded him after one season to the Clippers, more poor management from the front office. He didn’t quite come back to haunt the Magic, but a scorer like that who could play as a second guard of small forward would have been a nice option to have for the team as the years went by.

7. Steve Kerr

Steve Kerr is a lot of things, and you likely know him from a variety of different places. He three championships with the Chicago Bulls. The head coach of the Warriors dynasty. Winning two more titles with the San Antonio Spurs, making him one of only three players to win a championship in consecutive seasons with two different organizations.

The hardcore out there may even remember the bleach blond bomber from his rookie season with the Phoenix Suns. But did you know he played in 47 games for the Magic? Even more intriguing, he joined from the Cavaliers midway through the 1992-93 season to join a nucleus of O’Neal, Nick Anderson, Dennis Scott and Scott Skiles. So why wasn’t he kept around longer?

At the time Kerr was seen more as a traditional backup point guard, and not somebody who could get hot in a hurry from deep and who would do their best work off the ball while spotting up for open shots. The Magic needed more out of him, but 2.6 points per game on 25 percent shooting from 3-point range was not it.

If they’d kept him longer, and unlocked his true potential that we would see later in his career, then Kerr would have been extremely valuable for those Magic teams that would battle for a championship only a couple of years later. Instead, he was allowed to sign with the Bulls that summer and a skillset that was ahead of its time was allowed to walk out the door.

This is a case of the Magic not knowing what they had when they had it, and although Kerr was never going to be a franchise superstar, unlike many others who came through he didn’t need to be. They already had that in O’Neal, and simply letting him shoot more and handle the ball less, which is not what he was brought in to do, would have eventually made a huge difference.

6. Juwan Howard

An actual All-Star. A member of the “Fab Five.” An eventual NBA champion, although that was down with the noisy neighbors down the road that are the Miami Heat. Juwan Howard is basketball royalty because of what he was a part of while in the college game, but his professional career wasn’t half bad either.

His lone season with the Magic (81 games, 77 starts) was a weird one too, because it came after his stellar work with the Wizards (then Bullets), and before he was gone beyond his last legs while with the Heat. When Howard got to Orlando he was 30 and capable. He averaged a hefty 35.5 minutes per game and put up 17 points per contest.

When McGrady went down with knee issues, Howard stepped up, and although the Magic finished 21-61 (which allowed them to nab another Howard with the first overall pick that summer), the performances of Howard were a real positive. So too was his locker-room leadership, which would go on to be a staple of his for the rest of his career.

Howard was traded to the Houston Rockets in the summer of 2004 alongside McGrady in a deal which we will come back to, and although the Magic ended up being just fine and getting to the finals themselves within six years, the short-lived run of Howard with the Magic was a good one.

In drafting the other Howard, it was clear the organization was rebuilding for the future, which was why McGrady and Juwan Howard were sent to the Rockets. But if McGrady had remained healthy, and they’d kept Juwan Howard too, that would have been a really interesting and quirky outfit. Even more so with Dwight joining as well.

5. Steve Francis

This may be a generational thing, because there are certainly those fans who remember Steve Francis playing for the Magic. In fact, his disgruntled nature at being there in the first place makes him hard to forget, For others though, he is mostly known for that stint with the Rockets in which he was a three-time All-Star.

Francis was sent to the Magic in the deal that saw McGrady and Howard go the other way, and in 124 games with the franchise, he certainly had his moments. After averaging 16.6 points per game in his last season with the Rockets (he made the All-Star team this year), Francis would rebound and average 21.3 in his first year with the Magic.

Halfway through year two however things came to an abrupt halt, as Francis was traded to the New York Knicks just before the deadline. This wasn’t all bad however, the Magic being reunited with franchise icon Penny Hardaway in the process. By then his knees were shot, but getting rid of Francis was the main goal by that point.

Still his tenure in Orlando was good, on the court at least, with his personal numbers surpassing those set in Houston in a number of categories. Getting rid of Francis did have another positive to it, however, as it created the space necessary for all-time fan favorite Jameer Nelson to eventually claim the starting role on a contending team.

Francis was a star before he got to Orlando, and was arguably even better on a lot of nights once he got there, but his attitude and demeanor meant that a lot of fans had a hard time warming to him. His skills were never in question, and it has been unfortunate to see some off the court troubles hang around him, but when Francis was with the Magic, he played at a high level.

4. Rod Strickland

Surprisingly Rod Strickland was never an All-Star, despite having some brilliant seasons while with the Bullet/Wizards. He played until he was 38, and it is not surprising if you don’t remember him in Orlando, he was 37 when he got there. He managed 46 games, and perhaps most surprisingly of all started nine of those.

As if to tie everything that we have spoken about already together, Strickland was there during the 2003-04 season, at a time when Howard, Gooden and Pachulia were too. Add Keith Bogans and DeShawn Stevenson to this roster as well, alongside McGrady, and this was a funky group of players.

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Strickland split time between the Magic and Toronto Raptors in 2003-04, before on final stop with the Rockets the following year. His personal numbers were nothing to write home about (6.8 points and 4 assists), however, he did only average 19.9 points per game. This was a guy holding on for as long as he could before age took him down.

Strickland was a pure scorer earlier in his career, and there were still flashes of this while with the Magic. Small flashes. If he’d gotten to Orlando even a couple of years earlier he could have been more of a fan favorite, at a time in franchise history when there was not a lot going on.

Instead, Strickland was a part of the team that would have the worst record in the league, and like a few before him on this list that links him with Howard. There is nothing more to say than that, but he certainly flies under the radar of former Magic players.

3. Patrick Ewing

Again perhaps generational, and the fact he ended up as an assistant coach with the Magic for five years certainly strengthens the link between player and team. But Mr. New York Knick himself, Patrick Ewing, did suit up for the Magic, and as a 39-year-old no less. If Strickland was washed, then Ewing was in an even worse place by the time he got to Orlando.

Countless wars in a Knicks uniform had taken their toll on his body, and as an 11-time All-Star the miles were well and truly on the clock. Ewing managed 65 games, starting four of them, but more telling was the 13.9 minutes he averaged per game. It was sad to see fellow centers Steven Hunter (21) and Andrew DeClercq (14) get more starts than Ewing.

In keeping with the theme of funky rosters for the organization at that time, this was one that featured Ewing alongside McGrady, Miller, Horace Grant, Bo Outlaw and Jackson Sr. (perhaps he should have been more than an honorable mention after all?). Grant Hill and Monty Williams were there too.

They made the playoffs, losing in round one to the Charlotte Hornets, which is why it wasn’t all bad for Ewing. He bowed out of the league proper in the postseason, appearing in all four of those contests. Earlier in the regular season he also had 22 points and played over 30 minutes in a one-point win over the Suns.

But to see him play for the Magic, or anybody else other than the Knicks, was weird. It was also kind of sad too, in much the same way his previous season with the Supersonics was before he got to Orlando. Again the fact he went on to be an assistant coach for so long with the organization makes this seem more normal and less easy to forget. But it really wasn’t.

2. Shawn Kemp

As hard as it is to think of Ewing in a different jersey, the same absolutely applies to Shawn Kemp. Hard as it is to believe, he actually finished his NBA career with the Orlando Magic. The fact that he was only 33 makes this even crazier. Kemp’s star burned bright, he was a six-time All-Star, it just didn’t burn for as long as it should have.

He made his name with the Seattle SuperSonics and was arguably the second-best player in an NBA Finals matchup that featured Michael Jordan in 1996. One year removed from that he was sent to the Cavaliers, in a deal that if the Supersonics still existed as we know them now, they would surely still be kicking themselves over.

Kemp would be an All-Star one final time while with the Cavaliers, before the wheels came off alarmingly quickly. It is slightly ironic that he came to the Orlando Magic the year after Ewing was done (2002-03), to play with mostly the same band of misfits as Ewing had. There must be something in the water about legendary big men who made their names elsewhere finishing their careers with the Magic.

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Unlike Ewing however, Kemp wasn’t quite as bad. It was just hard to believe that somebody who had dunked on everybody earlier in his career could regress that much. Kemp played in all but three games that season, starting on 55 occasions. His numbers of 6.8 points and 5.7 rebounds were pedestrian.

Once the year was done, he was replaced by Juwan Howard on the roster. A fitting end, in Magic history anyway, for Kemp. From there that was his professional career in America done, despite a couple of failed comeback attempts. There was some time spent in Italy but one of the weirder careers in league history ended with the Magic, which is something of a theme here.

1. Dominique Wilkins

We end with the strangest one of all. The greatest player in Atlanta Hawks history, Dominique Wilkins, finishing not only his NBA career with the Orlando Magic but his professional career period. It gets stranger than that, as Wilkins played for the Magic after two stints overseas. Firstly with Panathinaikos in Greece, where he was a EuroLeague champion, and then with Bologna of Italy.

To add to this, he played for the Boston Celtics and Spurs in between those stints in Europe, and after all of that, he found time to suit up for the Magic 27 times. He even started two games. Wilkins was 39 by this stage, and as you might expect he played like somebody who had battled Jordan in iconic dunk contests in the previous decade.

This was the 1998-99 season, a lock-out shortened year, when Jordan had retired a second time and the league didn’t know yet how to fill the void left by the fact he was gone again. This time seemingly for good. Amidst all of that, Wilkins game back, played for the Magic, averaged 5 points and 2.6 assists per game and then was gone for good himself.

Why the Hawks didn’t take him back to finish his career there is unclear, although you would think the fact that they finished fourth in the East (31-19) would have vindicated their decision that Wilkins would have been a distraction more than anything else. Except the Magic finished third in the East (33-17), with Wilkins playing a small part in that.

All it does is tie another end of a big man’s career to the Magic for reasons which don’t totally make sense. They have struggled to get big names to come to town when they haven’t been contending, which they certainly weren’t when all of these former greats came to play. Perhaps the thinking was that they could sell some jerseys before calling it quits for good.

Whatever it is, Dominique Wilkins playing for the Orlando Magic is among the weirdest team and player pairings in the history of the league, and it will go down for a long time as the strangest star player to ever lace them up in Orlando. Until a 42-year-old Joel Embiid decides to give it a go for 27 games in 2036.