The Orlando Magic’s 102-98 road loss to the Chicago Bulls wasn’t Wendell Carter Jr.’s first time playing the Bulls since they traded him to the Orlando Magic last March. Nor was it the first time he’s played in Chicago as a visitor since the trade.
That came on April 14, 2021 — less than a month after the Magic made the organizational-shifting decision to trade franchise mainstay Nikola Vučević, along with Al-Farouq Aminu, to the Bulls for Carter, a pair of first-round draft picks and Otto Porter Jr.
Previously playing against the Bulls as an opponent made it easier for him to treat the Magic’s matchup against the Bulls like any other game. But that doesn’t mean the matchup against the team with which he spent the first 2½ seasons of his NBA career has become less meaningful.
