Nicholas Bohlman ‘23
STAFF WRITER
As the 2021 NBA season has reached the halfway mark, the Orlando Magic are going to have to make drastic changes in hopes to reach the playoffs.
The Orlando Magic have struggled to find a successful strategy halfway through the season, with a 13-23 record. The Magic are the Eastern Conference's second-to-last ranked team and ranked 27th out of 30 teams overall.
The Orlando Magic's losing streak of five includes a 105-93 loss against the Detroit Pistons, 129-92 against the Brooklyn Nets, 124-109 against the Utah Jazz, 130-124 against the Dallas Mavericks, and most recently 115-112 against the Atlanta Hawks.
Not only have the Magic failed to find success in their plays, but there are a lot of rumors among the players. Many rumors and coverage are surrounding a potential trade of star player, Nikola Vucevic. If the rumors are true, the Magic will have a much harder season ahead of them.
Vucevic is the team leader in points per game with 24.6 points. While one player does not make up a whole team, it will force Mohamed Bamba to take his place in which he has big shoes to fill. The rumors do not end there, as many teams are interested in another team leader, Aaron Gordon, and Evan Fournier.
Now that the league has reached the halfway mark, the Magic have about a week off to regroup, practice, and prepare for the rest of the season. The Magic will have to work 10 times harder to catch up to the other teams in the league if they hope to clinch the playoffs.
The Magic will face the Miami Heat on Thursday, March 11, at 8 p.m. on Fox Sports. This will be a great matchup as they are rivals and share about the same record. There will be in-person fans at the game in Miami, however, at a limited capacity. On Friday, March 12, at 9 p.m. on Fox Sports, the Magic will take on the San Antonio Spurs with no fans in attendance.
Be sure to tune in to the Orlando Magic games approaching in the next week, and hopefully they can turn their season around and keep their star players.