For a franchise born in 1989, the Orlando Magic has a rather rich history, especially in its early days. Especially in comparison with the other team created the same year, the Minnesota Timberwolves (no offense). The Florida organization has welcomed a few superstars into its ranks like Shaquille O’Neal, Anfernee Hardaway, Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill (not at its best, it’s true), Dwight Howard…but none of them have their jersey hanging from the ceiling of the Amway Center.
In fact, the Magic only retired two jerseys: 6 and … 6. Neither of them concerns a player who passed through Orlando. Indeed, the first is in honor of the supporters, who would represent here the “sixth man”. The second is therefore for Bill Russellwhose number will be retired league-wide.
Should Bill Russell’s #6 really be removed? Yes of course
It’s not a very useful “information” but it’s still quite funny. Then it allows us to highlight the position of the Magic: the franchise only wants to remove the numbers of the key players who will have allowed it to win a title. So far, Shaq, Penny and Howard have led Orlando to the NBA Finals, the first two in 1995 and the third in 2010. But without winning the trophy. Given the lengthy rebuild that’s taking place, we probably won’t see a Magic team this high again for a while.
