Cole Anthony, future in Orlando or bargaining chip?

The 2020-21 season of the Orlando Magic turned out to be a compendium between numerous injuries of varying severity and a series of important transfers during the market close that closed a promising project that never came to fruition.

All this tangle of situations and movements individually benefited Cole Anthony. The departure of Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon, together with the serious injury of Markelle Fultz, allowed the 15th position in the 2020 draft to receive a significant number of minutes and a not inconsiderable dose of offensive responsibility.

After this internal revolution, he would emerge as the second player with the most minutes (27.1) and points per game (12.9) in the dressing room, just behind Terrence Ross. Among rookies – those with a minimum of 40 games played – so only Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball and Immanuel Quickley would have a higher usage rate. All of them would be part of one of the two best quintets of rookies it’s from the season. In Anthony’s case it was not. An absence justified by the Magic record (21-51), their shooting from the field (57th among a total of 94 rookies) or its differential plus / minus (91º).

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