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Orlando Magic: Three best free agent signings in team history

By Luke Duffy

AUBURN HILLS, MI - APRIL 23: Tracy McGrady #1 of the Orlando Magic sits on the bench late in the game against the Detroit Pistons in Game two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2003 NBA Playoffs at The Palace of Auburn Hills on April 23, 2003 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Pistons won 89-77. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2003 NBAE (Photo by Tom Pidgeon/Getty Images)
AUBURN HILLS, MI - APRIL 23: Tracy McGrady #1 of the Orlando Magic sits on the bench late in the game against the Detroit Pistons in Game two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2003 NBA Playoffs at The Palace of Auburn Hills on April 23, 2003 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Pistons won 89-77. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2003 NBAE (Photo by Tom Pidgeon/Getty Images) /
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Orlando Magic
Orlando Magic (Photo credit should read VINCE BUCCI/AFP via Getty Images) /

3. Horace Grant

If you want to put forward that Horace Grant should actually place higher on this list, then I’m not going to argue with you. It is hard to overstate just how important he was for the Magic growing into a legitimate contender in the mid-nineties, even if his personal stats didn’t always highlight everything he did for the team.

Coming over from the Chicago Bulls, where he had won three championships alongside Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Grant would go on to be a crucial part in the 1994-95 Magic roster that would topple his former employers in the playoffs. There are those who argue that Jordan, coming back from his baseball sabbatical, wasn’t at his best, but he was better than people remember.

Regardless of that, Grant slid into the rotation as the veteran presence who brought leadership on and off the court. He was younger than you’d think when he got to Orlando as well, spending most of his prime (29 – 32) with the Magic. Although the organization never got over the hump, it wasn’t for the want of trying on Grant’s part. He may have starved for the cause elsewhere.

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He did exactly what he was supposed to alongside Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway, chipping in with buckets and rebounds when needed but deferring to their growing star power most of the time offensively. Grant was so liked in Orlando that he came back for a second run between 2001-03, and even that went better than you’d think.

In 2001-02 he played (and started) in 76 games, playing just shy of 30 minutes a night as a center despite being 36 years old. The Magic weren’t close to being title contenders at that point, but it speaks to how much of an influence he was in the locker-room that the front office were happy to have him back during this time.

Averaging only 11.3 points across two stints with the franchise (and a more impressive 8.2 rebounds) never grabbed all the headlines, but that wasn’t what Grant was signed for. He was the final piece on a team that could have won a championship.

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