NBA Mock Draft: Orlando Magic make two surprise selections

5. Orlando Magic – Alperen Sengun, F/C, Besiktas Icrypex

The Orlando Magic, despite having two top 10 picks,  must feel gutted to miss out on any of the top four prospects in this draft.

It is complete rebuild mode for the Magic after trading Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, Khem Birch, and Evan Fournier.

While Wendell Carter Jr., R.J. Hampton and Chuma Okeke all have the potential to develop into solid pieces (Okeke is especially intriguing and someone to watch closely over the next few seasons), all of them lack the star potential to lead the Magic into a contender in the future.

While Sengun probably will not end up being a franchise player, he has the potential to give the Magic some much-needed floor spacing and 3-point shooting that should help the Magic tremendously. Given that the Magic currently lack either of these things on their current roster, adding someone like Sengun will benefit their current crop of players.

The Basketball Super League, which is where Sengun originates from, is arguably the most competitive in all of Europe right now, with 30 former NBA players currently competing in it. This includes players such as Kyle O’Quinn, Jan Vesely and Nando De Colo among others.

At just 18 years old, Sengun saw himself being crowned as the Super League’s most valuable player.

Do not let the 19 percent 3-point shooting on just 21 attempts fool you – Sengun will be able to score at all three levels at some point during his NBA career. If Sengun can shoot 80 percent from the free-throw line, he should be able to score from the mid-range easily and stretch out his range even farther than that at some point.

Plus, when he needs to, Sengun can get down low and score from the post, which has primarily been his offensive game thus far in his professional basketball career (68% shooting from two-point range on 10 shots last season).

The important thing will be for the Magic to make sure that trying to score with his back to the basket becomes a complementary part of Sengun’s game rather than its focal point.