When the Orlando Magic launched their rebuilding effort in August 2012 by trading disgruntled franchise cornerstone Dwight Howard, an obvious question emerged.
What, exactly, would the rebuild look like?
The years since have started to answer that question. In the simplest terms, the Magic have used the draft and trades to acquire as many young, high-upside players as possible — players who would remain under team contractual control for the foreseeable future or, if tantalizing opportunities arose, could be flipped to other teams for high-impact talent.
The young nucleus currently consists of Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon, Tobias Harris, Mario Hezonja, Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton and Nik Vucevic.