The Orlando Magic have announced a lineup change for Friday's game against the Charlotte Hornets.
Orlando, which has lost eight of its last nine games to drop out of the playoff picture, will shift Evan Fournier and Channing Frye to the bench. Victor Oladipo and Aaron Gordon will replace them at shooting guard and forward, respectively.
Oladipo takes over for Fournier, whose individual struggles correspond with the Magic's broader ones, as Steven Covella wrote Friday.
Friday's start will mark Gordon's first of the season and the ninth of his two-year career. In 19.5 minutes per game as an NBA sophomore, Gordon is averaging 7.2 points and five rebounds while shooting 48.6 percent from the floor. After a shaky start to the season, Oladipo has come on strong in recent weeks, averaging 18.3 points per game on 62.1 percent True Shooting in January.
The Magic will round out their starting five with Elfrid Payton at point guard, Tobias Harris at forward, and Nik Vučević at center.
Tipoff between the Magic and the Hornets, who trail them by 1.5 games in the East standings, is set for 7:00 PM Eastern. Discuss the game live in the OPP GameThread.
