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The Orlando Magic joined the NBA as part of a four-team, two-year growth. The Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets began play throughout the 1988-89 season, and the Magic and the Minnesota Timber wolves joined the league a year later. Orlando won only 18 games in its initial season, but with rookie Dennis Scott joining Nick Anderson and veteran point guard Scott Skiles in the 1990-91 season, the Magic team improved its win-loss record to 31-51. The Magic 's fortune in drafting top players sustained in 1992, when the permit won the rights to the number-one pick in that year 's draft of college players. The club chosen Shaquille O'Neal, a 7-ft 1-in (2.1-m), 301-lb (136.5-kg) center who left Louisiana State University after his junior year.
O'Neal 's crash on the club and the NBA was immediate. In his fourth professional game O'Neal recorded 31 points and 21 rebounds. He also became the primary player in NBA history to win player of the week honors in his primary week in the league. For the season, the Ma gic logged a 41-41 win-loss record, but the team unsuccessful to make the playoffs.
Because it had the best evidence among all non-playoff teams, the Magic owned only one possibility out of 60 to win the top pick in the 1993 NBA draft. But the Magic 's name came up pri mary, giving them the top pick for the second year in a row. The club selected onward Chris Webber and then traded him to the Golden State Warriors in swap for the rights to Penny Hardaway and three future first-round draft choices.
The young, talented Magic compiled a 50-32 record in 1993-94 to end second in the Atlantic Division. Though, Orlando was upset in the first round of the playoffs by the Indiana Pacers. O 'Neal over the season ranked first in the league in field-goal percentage (.599), second in scoring (29.3 points per game), and second in rebounding (13.2 per game).
In the 1994-95 period the Magic compiled 57 wins and capture the franchise 's first Atlantic Division title. O'Neal led the NBA in score, with an average of 29.3 points per game. In the playoffs the Magic defeated the Boston Celtics, the Chicago Bulls, and the Pacers to go forward to the NBA Finals. There the Magic played the Houston Rockets. The series was billed as a battle between O 'Neal and veteran Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon, and the more knowledgeable Rockets swept the Magic by winning four straight games.
The Magic registered 60 wins the next year, but in the playoffs the Bulls ousted the Magic in the conference semifinals. Following the season, O 'Neal signed a fre e-agent agreement to play with the Los Angeles Lakers. Scott was traded after the 1996-97 season. Following the lockout-shortened 1999 season, Anderson and Hardaway were also traded, and the club entered a transformation phase under new coach Doc Rivers.
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