Orlando Magic receive No. 5 and No. 8 picks in 2021 NBA Draft Lottery
Following quite a while of losing, with a firesale and some tanking mixed in, the Orlando Magic wound up with the No. 5 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.
Furthermore, Jeff Weltman looked like he was going to cry.
The Magic entered with a share of the top odds in the draft lottery with a 14 percent possibility, yet dropped to fifth after the Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers bounced into the main five.
The Detroit Pistons, who had the second worst record in the league at 20-52 last season, won the lottery and the Cade Cunningham grand prize.
The Houston Rockets got second pick, the Cavaliers got third and the Raptors got fourth.
The Magic, who had a 14.8 percent chance of taking the third pick, likewise get the eighth pick from the Chicago Bulls as a part of the Nikola Vucevic trade.
Two top-10 picks is swell, however the Magic indeed appear to be one choose from the mix in a four-player draft with Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Jalen Suggs and Jalen Green. Maybe Green drops a pick, or perhaps the Magic snatch Jonathan Kuminga at five, joining a youthful center than likewise includes Jonathan Isaac, Markelle Fultz, Mo Bamba, Chuma Okeke, Cole Anthony, R.J. Hampton and Wendell Carter Jr — every one of whom are age 23 or under.
The Magic positioned themselves overall quite well for the 2021 draft lottery, going on an exchange cutoff time firesale that cleaned house, and towards the finish of the period giving veterans abundant chance to recuperate from injury as the losses piled up.
The Magic got a share of the top lottery odds with Houston and Detroit on the last day of the regular season when the Oklahoma City Thunder upset an in need of shorthanded Los Angeles Clippers group to give the Magic sole possession of the third-worst record in the league at 21-51.
The last time the Magic had the top chances in the lottery was in 2013 when they fell to the second pick and selected Victor Oladipo. That was the first of four lotteries during the decade where the Magic completed one pick beneath their projected draft slot.
