The Orlando Magic are not off to a particularly good start this season. They are 3-9 through 12 games, already giving themselves a hill to climb over to try and get back to the postseason.
The struggles of the Magic aren’t particularly surprising. Orlando is a very young team with a new head coach, and the team’s development trajectory appears to trail behind some other teams in the midst of rebuilds in the conference (like the Cleveland Cavaliers, for example).
It’s early in the season, so the dreams of making the playoffs haven’t been wiped away yet. However, where Magic fans should really focus their energy is the positive developments from some of the team’s young players, some of whom are off to surprisingly hot starts, despite the larger struggles of the team.
Key players off to a hot start for the Orlando Magic this season
The team has been getting contributions across the board from several players who are still in the first few seasons of their careers. If the hot starts keep up, the Magic may be looking at some core players for its next big run.
One player who didn’t crack this list is rookie Jalen Suggs, which is not to say he’s off to a bad start. The Gonzaga hero is averaging a solid 11.6 points and 3.6 assists per game. All things considered, he looks like a worthy lottery selection in the draft. However, he has struggled to shoot efficiently (30.6 percent overall, 20.6 percent from three) and has turned the ball over 3.5 times per game. He’ll need to work on that throughout the season.
Here are four players off to a hot start for the Magic.