The

1993–94 NBA season The 1993–94 NBA season was the 48th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season ended with the Houston Rockets defeating the New York Knicks 4 games to 3 in the 1994 NBA Finals, NBA Finals to win the franchise's first champ ...

was the fifth season for the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. Despite narrowly missing the playoffs with a 41–41 record the previous season, the Magic received unexpected good fortune by winning the

NBA draft lottery The NBA draft lottery is an annual event held by the National Basketball Association (NBA), in which the teams who had missed the playoffs the previous year participate in a lottery process to determine the draft order in the NBA draft. The NBA d ...

for the second consecutive year, despite having the worst odds. In the

1993 NBA draft The 1993–94 NBA season, 1993 NBA draft took place on June 30, 1993, at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The draft had some talented players at the top, but injuries and personal problems hurt many of them. Chris Webber, Pen ...

, the Magic selected power forward

Chris Webber Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III (born March 1, 1973), nicknamed "C-Webb", is an American former professional basketball player. Webber played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), with the largest portion of his career sp ...

from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

with the first overall pick, but soon traded him to the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

in exchange for shooting guard

Penny Hardaway Anfernee Deon "Penny" Hardaway (born July 18, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Memphis Tigers men's team in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). Hardaway played colle ...

from the

University of Memphis The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

, and three future first-round draft picks. The team also hired assistant Brian Hill as their new head coach. With the addition of Hardaway, the Magic continued to improve holding a 27–20 record at the All-Star break, while posting a 7-game winning streak in February. At mid-season, the team signed assistant coach

Tree Rollins Wayne Monte "Tree" Rollins (born June 16, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player who played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, ...

to a player contract, and acquired second-year forward Anthony Avent from the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

. The Magic qualified for their first ever

NBA playoff The NBA playoffs is the annual postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league champion. Since 1949, the four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held after the league's regular season and its pr ...

appearance in franchise history, as the team finished in second place in the Atlantic Division with a solid 50–32 record, and earned the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference.Orlando Magic (1989-Present)
/ref>

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

averaged 29.3 points, 13.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game, and was named to the

All-NBA Third Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sel ...

, while Hardaway had a stellar rookie season, averaging 16.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.3 steals per game, and was named to the

NBA All-Rookie First Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for play ...

. In addition, Nick Anderson provided the team with 15.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, along with 101 three-point field goals, while three-point specialist Dennis Scott contributed 12.8 points per game, and led the Magic with 155 three-point field goals, and

Scott Skiles Scott Allen Skiles Sr. (born March 5, 1964) is an American former basketball coach and player. He coached the Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic. A first-round draft pick out of Michigan State University, Skiles played ...

provided with 9.9 points and 6.1 assists per game. Meanwhile, Donald Royal contributed 7.4 points per game off the bench, and Jeff Turner averaged 6.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. During the NBA All-Star weekend in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, O'Neal was selected for the

1994 NBA All-Star Game The 1994 NBA All-Star Game was the 44th edition of the All-Star Game. The event was held in Minneapolis at Target Center, home of the Minnesota Timberwolves; the Timberwolves however, did not have any players participating in the game. It was ...

, and Hardaway won the Most Valuable Player award in the inaugural NBA Rookie Game. O'Neal also finished in fourth place in

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

voting, and Hardaway finished in second place in Rookie of the Year voting behind Webber. However, in the Eastern Conference First Round of the

1994 NBA playoffs The 1994 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1993–94 NBA season, 1993-94 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champion 1993–94 Houston Rockets ...

, the Magic were swept by the 5th-seeded

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

in three straight games; this was also O'Neal's first ever playoff appearance. Following the season, Skiles was traded to the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

Offseason

was selected by the

with the first pick of the

, becoming the first sophomore since

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time, Johnson List of NBA players who have spent their entire career w ...

to be a #1 overall draft pick. The Magic immediately traded him to the

in exchange for

and three future first round draft picks.

Draft picks

Roster

Roster Notes

* Center

was a

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

during the regular season.

Regular season

* Penny Hardaway started out the season at the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

position while he learned the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

position from veteran

. By mid-season he took over

duties from Skiles. He immediately made an impact on the league, winning the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

award at the inaugural Schick Rookie Game. Hardaway helped the

Magic Magic or magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces ** ''Magick'' (with ''-ck'') can specifically refer to ceremonial magic * Magic (illusion), also known as sta ...

to their first playoff berth and first fifty-win season. He averaged 16 points, 6.6 assists, 5.4 rebounds per game while his 190 steals ranked 6th in the league. He recorded his first career triple double on April 15 when he registered 14 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds against the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

. For his efforts he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and was the runner-up for Rookie of the Year to the aforementioned Webber.

Season standings

1993-94 NBA Season Summary - Basketball-Reference.com
/ref> :z – clinched division title :y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Playoffs

, - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 1 , April 28 ,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

L 88–89
,

(24) ,

(19) ,

(10) ,

Orlando Arena Amway Arena (originally known as Orlando Arena and later TD Waterhouse Centre) was an indoor arena located in Orlando, Florida. It was part of the Orlando Centroplex, a sports and entertainment complex located in Downtown Orlando. The arena wa ...

15,291 , 0–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 2 , April 30 ,

L 101–103
,

(31) , three players tied (7) ,

(7) ,

15,291 , 0–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 3 , May 2 , @

L 86–99
,

(23) ,

(14) ,

(4) ,

Market Square Arena Market Square Arena (MSA) was an indoor arena in Indianapolis. Completed in 1974, at a cost of $23 million, it seated 16,530 for basketball and 15,993 for ice hockey. Seating capacity for concerts and other events was adjusted by the use of larg ...

16,562 , 0–3 , -

Player statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards and honors

– All-NBA 3rd team, Field goal percentage leader,

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

– All-Rookie 1st Team, Schick Rookie Challenge MVP

Transactions

References

*
Orlando Magic on Basketball Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:1993-94 Orlando Magic season Orlando Magic seasons 1993 in sports in Florida 1994 in sports in Florida