Orlando Magic: 3 most promising young players right now

Shining star No. 1 for the Orlando Magic: Wendell Carter Jr.

The obvious answer here is Wendell Carter Jr., both because of what he’s doing on the court and the perfect storm that has been his arrival since coming over in the seismic Vucevic trade with the Chicago Bulls. Starting with the off-court stuff, and fans were right away invested in the way Carter Jr. plays the game and having a young big man to get really excited about.

Carter Jr. is only 22, and clearly has a ton of potential. The kind you could certainly build around, and the prospect of pairing him alongside Isaac is the making of a defensive dream. The other piece of this is that Carter Jr. was taken one spot after Mohamed Bamba, who was taken by the Magic in 2018.

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Bamba, as has so often been the case with him and other previous Magic youngsters, has actually looked decent lately. He is getting better at reading the game and having more of an impact. But it is still unclear if he is the center of the future for the franchise, whereas Carter Jr. has come in and grabbed that mantle in a way Bamba never did either. It was fun rooting for Vucevic, he is a top guy on and off the court, but there hasn’t been a young big like this to cheer for in a long time.

On the court, the 14.5 points Carter Jr. is averaging is already a career-high. It is a small sample size but is such an encouraging start for a player that isn’t likely to see his role diminish anytime soon. Defensively he has made an impact as well, and the 8.8 rebounds also averaged in that span have gone some way to replacing Vucevic’s production in that area.

Unfortunately for Carter Jr., and coach Clifford who loves a defensive setup, the Magic rank dead last in defensive rating (120.8) over the last 10 games played. We need to take this with a pinch of salt, however, as the roster is young and not particularly good right now and losing is again the priority.

But to have lost a franchise icon Vucevic and gotten back a player like Carter Jr. who fans are already raving about is huge. Some were ready to move on from the previous era and that’s fine, but the reality can often be different. The two first-round draft picks also included may end up being huge, but right now Carter Jr. is showing that he can be a guiding light for the Magic.