A new arena for the Magic games will be constructed starting 2008 and should be ready for the 2010 season. Once that is ready, the Amway Arena will most probably be demolished.

Jimmy Hewitt took responsibility for the franchise expansion team and the first thing he did was hire Matt Guokas as head coach. The first game that the Magic played was at the Amway Arena, known as the Orlando Arena at that time. They lost to the New Jersey Nets. But after two days they beat the New York Knicks thus securing their first ever win.

The Shaquille O’Neal Era

The Magic made a good decision in 1992 to draft Shaquille O’Neal. His joining the team made a huge difference and they improved drastically to achieve a 41-41 record that season. Shaquille was awarded the Rookie of the Year as well. The next best thing the Magic did was to acquire Anfernee Hardaway. The combination of Shaquille and Hardaway proved to be a lethal one making the Magic one of the best teams in the NBA.

The Magic reached the NBA Finals in 1995 but were not able to win as they lost to the Houston Rockets. The next season they reached the Eastern Conference finals but had to face the deadly Chicago Bulls and were unable to beat them. After that Shaquille left them and joined the Los Angeles Lakers. This was tough for the team but they still carried on having a pretty successful season.

Over the next few years, the Magic acquired some great players like Michael Doleac, Matt Harpring, Bo Outlaw and Dominique Wilkins. In 2000, the Magic drafted Mike Miller and acquired Tracy McGrady. With the addition of these players, the team reached the playoffs again. Unfortunately they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. The Magic remained quite successful as they made the playoffs in the next two years as well.

The Current Team

The current team has a few star players who keep the Magic amongst the best in the NBA. These players include Rashard Lewis, Jameer Nelson and Dwight Howard. The head coach is Stan Van Gundy who joined only this year. The Orlando Magic has won 2 Southeast Division Titles and 1 Conference Title. They are yet to win an NBA Championship. The team owner is Rich DeVos who will be handing over the team to his children later this year. The official owner will be Bob Vander Weide who is the team president and his son-in-law.