2021 NBA Mock Draft 2.0: Chicago Bulls leap up the lottery, land their next big star
By Ian Levy
player. 38. . Guard. Orlando Magic. Jalen Green. 3
The Magic made a dramatic tear-down at the NBA trade deadline, shipping out Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier. They’re starting over with a half-dozen wildly talented question marks — Markelle Fultz, Jonathan Isaac, Wendell Carter Jr., Mo Bamba, Chuma Okeke, Cole Anthony. Each of those players has looked impressive at times but have enough uncertainty around their long-term health and ultimate upside that they’re basically a pack of wild cards.
All that is to say, the Magic are basically starting from scratch and they need a foundation, a first piece to lay down and begin building off of.
Green certainly has the talent to be that player and his upside is as high as anyone’s outside the Mobley-Cunningham tier. He has great size on the wing and he’s an electric athlete with explosive scoring potential. There are questions about his 3-point consistency and how much efficiency he’ll be able to wring out of his primary scorer skill set. Even if every other young player on the Magic hits their ceiling, that dominant individual scoring profile is still lacking. If the Magic get lucky, that could be Green.