For the Orlando Magic, securing the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA draft can alter the trajectory of the franchise’s rebuild.
No. 1 picks have historically been multi-time All-Stars. And in the Magic’s case, coming to Orlando as the No. 1 pick has usually preceded a Hall-of-Fame career (Dwight Howard, Shaquille O’Neal).
Even with the pressure and privilege that comes with having the top pick, president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman assured the Magic’s month-long process before the June 23 draft won’t change.
Orlando also has two second-round picks for the draft at Nos. 32 and 35.
“We’ll do our due diligence on as many prospects as we can,” Weltman said. “There’s no reason not to. We’re building a roster full of young, high-character [and] talented players in an organization that’s sound throughout. There will be a lot of players who are eager to visit us. There’s no reason for us to limit our selectivity at this point. We want to meet all the top guys, get to know them and go through the process.”
The Magic continued their scouting during this week’s draft combine, with Wednesday’s sessions including body measurements and on-court drills.
Thursday consisted of scrimmages between players who’ll likely be selected later in the first or second round. Friday will feature more scrimmages.
“We get to choose who we feel is the best fit for our team and who we feel will have the biggest long-range impact,” Weltman said. “With that will come a lot of conversations. It’ll be interesting to see the calls that’ll come up. We get to familiarize ourselves now with elite prospects and add one to our team.”
One of the elite prospects the Magic plan on speaking with is Iowa forward Keegan Murray, who’s projected to be a high lottery pick.
Murray said Thursday he was scheduled to interview with Orlando “in the upcoming days.”
Duke’s Paolo Banchero, Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, Purdue’s Jaden Ivey, Kentucky’s Shaedon Sharpe and Auburn’s Jabari Smith are other players expected to be selected high in the draft.
The quintet’s Thursday media availabilities were canceled for unknown reasons by the NBA. Those players were able to speak with team officials this week and will start their workouts at organizations’ facilities after the combine ends.
“I feel as they start to make the rounds, teams will start to fall in love with guys, which is what generally happens,” Weltman said. “Leverage [will] kind of unfold from there. We’ll have a lot of interesting discussions with teams. Obviously, we don’t go into this thing looking to trade our pick. We look to add a really talented, young [and] high-character guy to our talent base and roster.
“This really doesn’t change the way we’ll approach the draft. We’re really excited to be able to fall in love with somebody and pick that player.”
When asked if there was someone he already had in mind for the No. 1 pick, Weltman responded there wasn’t.
“It wasn’t too long ago I could answer that question in the affirmative, but the way that players are coming into the league has changed so dramatically over the last 10 years or so that there’s such an incomplete resume until you get the visits and flesh out the rest of the process,” he said. “We’re going to go in with an open mind. When guys come in after one year of college, and some situations not even that, this rest of the process to complete the application is really important.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at khprice@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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