The Charlotte Hornets preseason ends playing against the Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic are not a very talented team and these matchups really shouldn’t be very challenging. The Magic don’t have very many young pieces with only one All-Star in Nikola Vučević and last season was his first appearance.
Charlotte went 0-2 in their matchups with Orlando and was blown out in the Spectrum Center. The Hornets weren’t exactly a great roster last season and had only played the Magic twice before the abrupt end of their season. This season the matchup will be much more in favor of the Hornets with much more talent.
The first matchup will include LaMelo Ball or Terry Rozier squaring off against Markelle Fultz, who is fighting to not be considered an NBA bust. Now Fultz is improving his game with the Magic but his talent doesn’t compare to Ball or Rozier. Devonte’ Graham will lineup against Evan Fournier, who is at best a subpar player. Fournier is not better than Graham on offense or defense so this is an obvious win. Former Hornet Dwayne Bacon will likely start for Orlando and obviously, Gordon Hayward is the better player. PJ Washington on Aaron Gordon will be the most exciting matchup. Both players are sound on offense and defense so the battle should be fairly even. Vučević is an All-Star and will surely dominate either of the Hornets center options. Neither Zeller nor Carey Jr will be a good matchup to shut down the European star.
Both games are down in Florida and the Hornets should easily beat the weak Magic roster.