The 2002–03 Orlando Magic season was the 14th season for the Orlando Magic in the National Basketball Association. During the off-season, the Magic signed free agents, former All-Star forward Shawn Kemp and Jacque Vaughn. However, Grant Hill only played just 29 games due to his continuing ankle injuries, and Horace Grant only played just five games due to a sore left knee, and was released to free agency after feuding with head coach Doc Rivers.

With the addition of Kemp and Vaughn, the Magic won five of their first six games of the regular season, but then lost six of their next eight games afterwards. The team fell below .500 in winning percentage, and held a 24–26 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, the Magic traded Mike Miller to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for rookie power forward Drew Gooden, and rookie small forward Gordan Giriček. The Magic played above .500 for the remainder of the season, and finished in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a 42–40 record, earning the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Tracy McGrady won his first scoring title leading the league in scoring with 32.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.7 steals per game per game, plus leading the Magic with 173 three-point field goals, as he was named to the All-NBA First Team. In addition, Hill averaged 14.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, while Giriček contributed 14.3 points per game in 27 games after the trade, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, Gooden provided the team with 13.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in 19 games, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and Pat Garrity contributed 10.7 points per game and 161 three-point field goals. Meanwhile, Darrell Armstrong provided with 9.4 points, 3.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game, while Kemp averaged 6.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, Vaughn contributed 5.9 points and 2.9 assists per game, and Andrew DeClercq provided with 4.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, McGrady was selected for the 2003 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star team, while Garrity participated in the NBA Three-Point Shootout. McGrady finished in fourth place in Most Valuable Player voting with 4 first-place votes, and also finished tied in 18th place in Most Improved Player voting, while Gooden finished in fifth place in Rookie of the Year voting.

In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 2003 NBA playoffs, the Magic faced off against the top–seeded, and Central Division champion Detroit Pistons, who were led by the trio of Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, and All-Star center, and Defensive Player of the Year, Ben Wallace. Despite the Pistons having home-court advantage in the series, the Magic took a 3–1 series lead after winning Game 4 over the Pistons at home, 100–92 at the TD Waterhouse Centre. However, the Magic lost the next three games, which included a Game 7 loss to the Pistons on the road, 108–93 at The Palace of Auburn Hills, thus losing in a hard-fought seven-game series.

The Magic finished 26th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 605,901 at the TD Waterhouse Centre during the regular season, which was the fourth-lowest in the league. Following the season, Armstrong signed as a free agent with the New Orleans Hornets, while Grant re-signed with his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, Vaughn re-signed with the Atlanta Hawks, and Kemp retired. After the playoff defeat, the Magic entered a state of rebuilding, and did not return to the NBA playoffs again until the 2006–07 season.

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 18 Curtis Borchardt C Stanford

Roster

Roster notes Small forward Grant Hill played 29 games (his last game being on January 16, 2003) but missed the rest of the season and the playoffs due to having left ankle problems. He was placed on the injured list on January 18, 2003, and underwent season-ending surgery in March 2003.

Regular season

Season standings

z – clinched division title y – clinched division title x – clinched playoff spot

Game log

Playoffs

|- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 1 | April 20 | @ Detroit | W 99–94 | Tracy McGrady (43) | Drew Gooden (15) | Jacque Vaughn (6) | The Palace of Auburn Hills21,261 | 1–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | April 23 | @ Detroit | L 77–89 | Tracy McGrady (46) | Drew Gooden (11) | Jacque Vaughn (6) | The Palace of Auburn Hills22,076 | 1–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 3 | April 25 | Detroit | W 89–80 | Tracy McGrady (29) | Gooden, McGrady (7) | Darrell Armstrong (8) | TD Waterhouse Centre17,283 | 2–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 4 | April 27 | Detroit | W 100–92 | Tracy McGrady (27) | Drew Gooden (13) | Tracy McGrady (9) | TD Waterhouse Centre17,283 | 3–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 5 | April 30 | @ Detroit | L 67–98 | Tracy McGrady (19) | Drew Gooden (15) | Tracy McGrady (4) | The Palace of Auburn Hills22,076 | 3–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 6 | May 2 | Detroit | L 88–103 | Tracy McGrady (37) | Drew Gooden (12) | Tracy McGrady (5) | TD Waterhouse Centre16,909 | 3–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 7 | May 4 | @ Detroit | L 93–108 | Tracy McGrady (21) | Drew Gooden (17) | Tracy McGrady (6) | The Palace of Auburn Hills22,076 | 3–4

Player statistics

Regular season PlayerPG82 23 2,350 295 323 135 13 769 28.7 3.6 3.9 1.6 .2 9.4PF 81 53 2,584 306 121 62 20 868 31.9 3.8 1.5 .8 .2 10.7PG 80 48 1,686 118 232 64 2 473 21.1 1.5 2.9 .8 .0 5.9C 79 55 1,633 451 55 66 33 537 20.7 5.7 .7 .8 .4 6.8C 77 21 1,327 339 52 39 36 365 17.2 4.4 .7 .5 .5 4.7SG 75 74 2,954 488 411 124 59 2,407 39.4 6.5 5.5 1.7 .8 32.1SG 75 4 1,025 184 65 45 12 194 13.7 2.5 .9 .6 .2 2.6C 62 8 783 146 23 19 25 267 12.6 2.4 .4 .3 .4 4.3†SF 49 39 1,826 286 139 36 16 806 37.3 5.8 2.8 .7 .3 16.4†PF 35 1 322 69 7 4 16 64 9.2 2.0 .2 .1 .5 1.8C 33 5 447 93 6 9 36 130 13.5 2.8 .2 .3 1.1 3.9SF 29 29 843 206 122 28 13 421 29.1 7.1 4.2 1.0 .4 14.5†SF 27 27 961 130 67 30 2 387 35.6 4.8 2.5 1.1 .1 14.3C 27 3 145 50 5 5 3 27 5.4 1.9 .2 .2 .1 1.0†PG 22 1 290 21 21 12 1 78 13.2 1.0 1.0 .5 .0 3.5†PF 19 18 544 160 20 15 13 259 28.6 8.4 1.1 .8 .7 13.6PF 5 1 85 8 7 3 0 26 17.0 1.6 1.4 .6 .0 5.2

Playoffs PlayerSG7 7 308 47 33 14 6 222 44.0 6.7 4.7 2.0 .9 31.7PF7 7 234 89 4 3 6 98 33.4 12.7 .6 .4 .9 14.0SF7 7 223 22 7 2 1 66 31.9 3.1 1.0 .3 .1 9.4PG7 6 131 6 25 4 1 34 18.7 .9 3.6 .6 .1 4.9C7 6 104 23 2 2 5 28 14.9 3.3 .3 .3 .7 4.0PG7 1 226 17 26 6 0 66 32.3 2.4 3.7 .9 .0 9.4PF7 1 163 18 5 2 3 28 23.3 2.6 .7 .3 .4 4.0PG7 0 111 11 7 2 2 22 15.9 1.6 1.0 .3 .3 3.1C7 0 72 15 0 0 0 21 10.3 2.1 .0 .0 .0 3.0C7 0 40 3 1 0 3 6 5.7 .4 .1 .0 .4 .9C 6 0 43 11 1 1 0 17 7.2 1.8 .2 .2 .0 2.8SG 6 0 25 5 1 1 1 5 4.2 .8 .2 .2 .2 .8

Awards and honors Tracy McGrady – All-NBA 1st Team, Scoring Champion, All-Star Drew Gooden – All-Rookie 1st Team Gordan Giriček – All-Rookie 2nd Team

Transactions Overview Players Added Via draft Ryan Humphrey Via trade Gordan Giricek Drew Gooden Via free agency Shawn Kemp Olumide Oyedeji Jacque VaughnPlayers Lost Via trade Ryan Humphrey Mike Miller Don Reid Via free agency Troy Hudson Monty Williams

Player Transactions Citation:

References