The Orlando Magic selected North Carolina guard Cole Anthony guard with their first-round pick (15th overall) during the 2020 NBA Draft on Wednesday night.
Anthony, the son of former NBA player Greg Anthony, has been described as a competitive and hard-nosed defender, as well as a score-first point guard who can create space off the dribble.
Anthony averaged 18.5 points and 4.0 assists per game during a record-setting freshman season at North Carolina. He poured in 34 points to set ACC freshman and North Carolina all-time debut records for scoring. He also was the first North Carolina freshman to post back-to-back 20-point, 10-rebound games.
Anthony did miss 11 games with a knee injury.
From NBA.com: "Cole Anthony is an athletic guard with a scorer's mentality who lost two months of his freshman year to knee surgery."
The Magic made a draft-day move earlier in the day, acquiring two future second-round picks from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for their second-round pick (45th overall) in tonight's draft. The Magic's only pick in the 2020 draft, at this point, will come at No. 15.
Orlando will get a second-round pick owed to Milwaukee from Indiana in either 2022, 2023 or 2024 and Milwaukee's second-round pick in 2026.
The Pacers' 2021 pick owed to the Brooklyn Nets is protected for spots 45-60 in both 2021 and 2022. Thus, the pick may not change ownership until it becomes unprotected in 2023, according to basketball.real.gm.
Indiana will convey its second-round pick to Orlando (via Milwaukee) one year after conveying the second-round pick to Brooklyn. This pick will therefore convey in 2022, 2023 or 2024.
In the 2019 draft, the Magic took Talen Horton-Tucker in the second round, then traded his rights to the Lakers for their 2020 second-round pick. Orlando then used that pick to acquire forward James Ennis in a trade with the 76ers in February. Ennis will be entering free agency after declining to exercise his player option for the 2020-21 season.
The Magic signed 2019 first-round pick Chuma Okeke, who missed last season with a knee injury, to his rookie-scale contract on Monday, perhaps lessening the need for a second-round pick in tonight's draft.
The Bucks, meanwhile, continue a busy offseason that already has seen them put a deal in place to trade for All-Star guard Jrue Holiday of the Pelicans.
