2021 NBA Trade Deadline: 10 predictions of what will happen

Prediction No. 7: The Orlando Magic finally press the rebuild button

This is a process that is about nine years late and should’ve happened at the exact moment that Dwight Howard jumped ships and went to the Lakers in 2012. The Orlando Magic technically tried to rebuild from scratch, though we’ve seen better management in junior high teams.

This may seem like an overstatement but a quick trip down memory lane will convince you. In 2014-15, their roster consisted of Nikola Vucevic, Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris, Elfrid Payton, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier, with Vucevic being the older one at the age of 24.

How did they manage to mess this up? Well, for starters they traded away Harris and Payton for scraps, yet another sentence that is not an overstatement. Then, they packaged Oladipo and a rookie Domantas Sabonis to acquire an aging Serge Ibaka.

As that wasn’t enough, they proceeded to hilariously overpay for fringe players like Bismack Biyombo and Jeff Green. Just like that, this promising young core was turned to ashes, with only a few members remaining on the team as of today.

Right now, this roster just ain’t cutting it. You’ve got an All-Star in Vucevic, an outrageously used Aaron Gordon, topped off with the injury squad of Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac.

Every single one of the aforementioned can be used to fetch younger players and future draft picks. By hitting the reset button, the Orlando Magic get a second chance at a rebuild. By not doing so, they are destined for a decade of barely missing or making the playoffs.