Orlando Magic Will Struggle Without Arron Afflalo

It sure would be nice to have Arron Afflalo in the Orlando Magic lineup.

But the Magic, in recent days have been adjusting to the latest development that Afflalo, who has had a strong first year with the Magic, will be gone for the NBA season.

Afflalo’s right hamstring injury sustained late last week against the Oklahama City Thunder, will put him out for the rest of the season.

The Magic, who haven’t been playing too badly in recent games, didn’t need to hear that news. They’ve been trying to adjust in the last few games, including the 108-94 loss to the Miami Heat Monday night. Even with Afflalo, the odds were against the Magic beating the red-hot Heat.

Afflalo had been averaging 16.5 points per game and had led or tied the team in point production in 24 games and netted 20 or more points 19 times.

Hedo Turkoglu is set to come back from a 20-game suspension, so that will help the Magic to some extent.

But Afflalo’s loss wasn’t easy. All he can do is get healthy and work on improving his numbers for next season. He was also shooting 43 percent from the floor, which was below his career average. A No. 1 objective for Afflalo next season would be to get his shooting accuracy to 50 percent.

He showed plenty of promise during the season and seemed ready to finish strong in the final weeks. But the hope is that Afflalo will come back bigger and stronger. That would figure nicely into the Magic’s rebuilding plans.