The Orlando Magic boasts one of the NBA's deepest bench units in the entire league heading into 2024-25. But with so many players competing for minutes at the guard positions, the Magic must be sharp about their delegation of the playing time.
As the 2024-25 NBA season rapidly approaches, the Orlando Magic roster shapes up as one of the league's deepest top-to-bottom.
If that means the Magic need trial and error in the first portion of the season to understand what works best come the tail end of the season, that's a tradeoff Orlando likely would accept.Orlando entered the summer with financial freedom to be one of the power-wielders on the market. Yet, the Magic held off from making a blockbuster move and instead opted for the addition of veteran shotmaker and perimter defender Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
This isn't to suggest Caldwell-Pope's arrival is meant to be short-lived, but rather only laying out a potential avenue Orlando could pursue should they so choose. Suggs and Caldwell-Pope gives the Magic, the No. 2 defense in the NBA a season ago, a daunting defensive lineup that should scoring a easier as well.
Anthony was the player Orlando felt most comfortable with bringing off the bench last season. In 81 appearances last season, he was the only guard on the roster to not start a game. He played the lowest share of minutes in his career, which contributed to career-low averages in points, rebounds and assists. His shooting percentages were pretty much on-par with his NBA career to this point, which translates to Anthony providing the same play he has for most of his career – just in smaller doses.
Howard is potentially the most intriguing case to follow in the early going. The 11th pick in the '23 Draft himself, he only played 18 games last season – not to mention his share of minutes was miniscule. Playing just 3.7 minutes in those 18 contests, Howard didn't have much of an opportunity in his first season.
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