As I noted on Twitter a few days ago, Dwayne Bacon has a chance to lead the Orlando Magic in minutes played this year while also posting a single-digit PER. The free-agent signee, who ended last season in the minors with the Charlotte Hornets' NBA G League affiliate, has had a regular role in Orlando's rotation due the injuries that have ravaged its roster.

And he is... not making a positive impact.

The latest entry in Owen Phillips' The F5 newsletter highlighted the staggering breadth of advanced metrics which rank Nikola Jokic as one of the league's best overall players. I thought I'd take a similar tactic to evaluate Bacon's performance, albeit with far fewer metrics, and without a fancy graphic.

The results? Through Tuesday's games, here's where the fourth-year swingman ranks in a variety of categories.

• RAPTOR (fivethirtyeight): -4.4 | 237/251 players
• Real Plus-Minus (ESPN): -2.45 | 358/506 players
• Box Plus-Minus (basketball-reference): -5.3 | 184/184 players
• Win Shares/48 minutes (basketball-reference): 0.017 | 176/184 players
• Value Over Replacement Player (basketball-reference): -1.1 | 511/513 players

Bacon's signature NBA skill is his ability to create shots for himself off the dribble. And while there's no doubting that he can create separation and fire, accuracy is an issue, which kills his scoring efficiency. Indeed, through Tuesday, he ranks below league-average in two-point percentage, three-point percentage, effective field-goal percentage, True Shooting percentage, and free-throw rate; he at least tops league-average in free-throw accuracy, so when he is able to create contact, he's cashing in. And as Phillips pointed out on Twitter, Bacon ranks fourth league-wide in turnover rate, so that's another positive.

And then there's the tunnel vision: OPP's Garrett Townsend went a bit deeper on Bacon in this story, but it suffices to say that he is not a playmaker. His rebounding is no great shakes either.

The thing is, none of this is exactly Bacon's fault; he was never supposed to play a key role on this team, let alone lead it in minutes. The Magic signed him to a minimum contract in the offseason as a sort of reclamation project, hoping that re-teaming with Steve Clifford, who coached him Charlotte, would improve his development. Maybe he'd get spot minutes on the wing behind Evan Fournier, James Ennis III, and Terrence Ross. But Ennis sustained an injury in training camp, forcing Bacon into the opening-night starting lineup. Fournier and Ross have also missed time with injury this season, and the Magic have since traded Fournier. In short, Bacon has a much larger role to play than he really ought to; is it really a surprise that he's struggling?

Help may be on the way; now that point guard Cole Anthony has returned from injury, the rookie R.J. Hampton can slide to the wing. Gary Harris may soon make his Magic debut after coming from the Denver Nuggets with Hampton via trade. Ross and Ennis are healthy. But given the degree to which Clifford has relied upon Bacon this season--he's the only player to appear in all of the Magic's games--it is unlikely he'll find any DNP-CDs in his future.