Most Iconic Magic Player

[Statlanta]

Inspired by the ongoing Magic Twitter Poll
As a small market who has blessed to have many franchise players who was our most iconic player? I'm am not asking best career here or best single season here. I'm asking who most represents the Magic fanbase if we were to choose one player? Instead of stats I'll just go through their narratives

Here's the Big 3


Shaquille O'Neal(4 seasons)


The original star. The 1st to put Orlando on the map(and to the Finals) with his larger than life lifestyle and his backboard breaking dunks


Tracy McGrady(4 seasons)


The free agent star. The 1st marquee player(sorry Horace) to come through free agency. Entertained through poster dunks and record setting scoring performances.


Dwight Howard(9 seasons)


The recent star. Another guy who helps us to the Finals with his playful personality while also entertaining fans with dunks and DPOY awards.


And now for something different


Nick Anderson(10 seasons)


Our most tenured player via both seasons and games played. He has worn the Magic blue for a decade and is also apart of the original Finals teams.

Others for consideration(Scott Skiles, Jameer Nelson, Bo Outlaw, Penny Hardaway, Darrell Armstrong, Aaron Gordon(hopefully))

So yeah leave comments below....

[Xatticus]

I like this thread, and I hope a lot of folks contribute to it.

My favorite Magic player was Darrell Armstrong, followed pretty closely by Nick Anderson. Both of those players spanned multiple eras in Magic history. Each was shuffled off rather unceremoniously, which was really unfortunate, but unlike the big three that most of the praise gets heaped upon, neither left of their own volition.

[tiderulz]

if you mean Iconic as in who is most recoginized from the franchise, its Dwight.

[Nemesis21]

I voted other, I could go with any of these guys, Penny, Nick, Darrell, Jameer. F**k Shaq and f**k Dwight. They both cost us championships due to their ego's. I personally don't include either of them in talk of best Magic player. F**k them both.

[JaxMagic]

I voted Shaq. He left a bad taste in everyone's mouth but despite that he is still the most iconic player to ever put on the Magic uniform.

[BadMofoPimp]

I voted other for Glen "Big Baby" Davis!

[pcity813]

Shaq, penny, tmac, dwight. In that order

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[OrlChamps2030]

Dwight..

6x all star
5x all nba first team
4x all nba defensive first team
3x DPOTY
Star of the team during its most succesful run
Franchise leader in points, rebounds, blocks, minutes played, 3rd most games played

[MagicStarwipe]

The players most identified with the Magic are Penny, T-Mac and Dwight because their peak was here and for injury reasons they weren't able to match what they did here anywhere else. When you think of Shaq you think of Lakers. And no offense to Nick, but nobody ever thinks of Nick, period. So for those reasons it's either Penny, T-Mac or Dwight. And I think Penny probably had the highest profile out of those 3.

[tiderulz]

The players most identified with the Magic are Penny, T-Mac and Dwight because their peak was here and for injury reasons they weren't able to match what they did here anywhere else. When you think of Shaq you think of Lakers. And no offense to Nick, but nobody ever thinks of Nick, period. So for those reasons it's either Penny, T-Mac or Dwight. And I think Penny probably had the highest profile out of those 3.

I dont personally believe that Penny had a higher profile than Dwight. More media options available during Dwight's time with Orlando which helps. If Penny was here now vs then, it would probably be Penny.

[Max Power]

To me this is easily O'Neal if we're talking national rep.He only played 4 seasons here but the Magic's profile hasn't been as high as it was with him and he's the only first ballot Hall of Famer on the list of stars we had, the rest flamed out after they left Orlando. Now for diehard Magic fans, I think it's complete conjecture and debatable. We'll see votes for Anderson, Jameer, Outlaw, and Armstrong among others. I personally would say Hedo Turkoglu, who quietly spent like 7 years with the Magic and was very good here.


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[MagicFan101]

Until someone leads us to a title or two, this isn't worth asking. It would be small picture thinking that limits the goals of the program. This is similar to the rediculous decision of UCF to build a GOL statue.

[darthcheech2000]

Shaq easy, he was a once in a generation player and the butthurt feelings have subsided.

[npiper17]

The players most identified with the Magic are Penny, T-Mac and Dwight because their peak was here and for injury reasons they weren't able to match what they did here anywhere else. When you think of Shaq you think of Lakers. And no offense to Nick, but nobody ever thinks of Nick, period. So for those reasons it's either Penny, T-Mac or Dwight. And I think Penny probably had the highest profile out of those 3.

I dont personally believe that Penny had a higher profile than Dwight. More media options available during Dwight's time with Orlando which helps. If Penny was here now vs then, it would probably be Penny.

I hear what you're saying but will Dwight get an ESPN 30 for 30 in 20 years about his time in Orlando?

I actually think more media options meant there was less focus on Dwight than Shaq and Penny had in 95.

[npiper17]

The players most identified with the Magic are Penny, T-Mac and Dwight because their peak was here and for injury reasons they weren't able to match what they did here anywhere else. When you think of Shaq you think of Lakers. And no offense to Nick, but nobody ever thinks of Nick, period. So for those reasons it's either Penny, T-Mac or Dwight. And I think Penny probably had the highest profile out of those 3.

I dont personally believe that Penny had a higher profile than Dwight. More media options available during Dwight's time with Orlando which helps. If Penny was here now vs then, it would probably be Penny.

I hear what you're saying but will Dwight get an ESPN 30 for 30 in 20 years about his time in Orlando?

I actually think more media options meant there was less focus on Dwight than Shaq and Penny had in the 90s.

[T-Cat]

Even though he is not on the list, I think Aaron Gordon will make an name for himself!

[FFBlitzace]

Yeah I think Shaq might seem like the obvious answer, but realistically, the general public doesn't associate Shaq with the Magic. So I think it depends on how you want to interpret the question. In general, Shaq is the most iconic player that ever played for us. But in terms of a player who was iconic AND would be widely associated primarily with the Magic by the general public, Penny might be the guy. I don't know, it's kind of a tough question.

[UCFJayBird]

The players most identified with the Magic are Penny, T-Mac and Dwight because their peak was here and for injury reasons they weren't able to match what they did here anywhere else. When you think of Shaq you think of Lakers. And no offense to Nick, but nobody ever thinks of Nick, period. So for those reasons it's either Penny, T-Mac or Dwight. And I think Penny probably had the highest profile out of those 3.

I dont personally believe that Penny had a higher profile than Dwight. More media options available during Dwight's time with Orlando which helps. If Penny was here now vs then, it would probably be Penny.

I hear what you're saying but will Dwight get an ESPN 30 for 30 in 20 years about his time in Orlando?

I actually think more media options meant there was less focus on Dwight than Shaq and Penny had in the 90s.

I think there's a decent chance he gets that 30 for 30 long before then, say in the next 5-10 years. It'll revolve around how in his first 6 or so years in the league he was a star, one of the most well liked players in the league, and then suddenly he began clashing with coaching and management, and went through a media circus over whether or not he wanted out of Orlando. Probably won't happen until his story (playing career) is finished though.

This is a tough question. What makes a player iconic for a team? Is it when a team is mentioned, what players come to mind? if that's the case, I'd put Dwight, Shaq, T-Mac all in the same conversation, maybe even Penny. If we're talking if when a PLAYER is mention, what team comes to mind? Dwight, T-Mac, and Penny, but not Shaq. Shaq is associated more with the Lakers and Heat than the Magic.

I think it's the first one though, when a team is mentioned, who comes to mind. For me it's Dwight and T-Mac.

[in-limbo]

Shaq is the most recognizable player we ever had, to me it's not that close. Darrel is my all time favorite Magic player. Dwight was great here and is the star player most associated with the Magic in recent years. Anyone here in the Shaq era knows that nothing ever matched that kind of hype. The media presence here was insane at that time. Dude could get the crowd going bananas with just a wink from the free throw line.

[Skin]

No Penny on this list??? For shame.