The Orlando Magic were one of the luckiest expansion franchises ever. Consecutive lottery wins handed them Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway, which allowed them to go from nothing to the NBA Finals in just 6 years. The Magic looked like the team of the future …. but they weren’t. Losing Shaquille O’Neal played a huge part in that, but so did major injuries, a few bad moves, and some very good moves that backfired because of bad luck:
