The Orlando Magic will play Mario Hezonja as their backup power forward with Jeff Green out.

Hezonja has primarily played on the wings this season but Frank Vogel sees potential in him as a small-ball power forward.

“There’s a chance that this could be his best position or most natural position in today’s NBA: to be 6-9 small-ball four [power forward]," said Vogel. "He’s going to have an opportunity to take a look at that and see what that feels like."

The Magic acquired Serge Ibaka last June while also signing Green and Bismack Biyombo, which further crowded their frontcourt and shifted Aaron Gordon to the 3.

Doc Rivers has denied a story linking him to the Orlando Magic.

A report from ESPN suggested Rivers could be a candidate to return to the Magic in a general manager/head coach capacity. Rivers began his coaching career with the Magic.

“I want to make this a place where it’s a pride of place,” Rivers said. “I haven’t accomplished that yet. And that’s my goal. That drives me, to make this a destination that people want to come to and you have pride in. I think we’ve improved it greatly, but it’s still not. … I haven’t reached my goal at all, and I’m fully aware of that.”

Rivers joined the Clippers in 2013.

"I can tell you I had a past with the Magic. I have no future [in Orlando]. My future's here."

The Orlando Magic are giving strong consideration to firing Rob Hennigan at the end of the current season.

The Magic expected to contend for a spot in the playoffs this season.

Hennigan became general manager of the Magic at the age of 30 in 2012. Hennigan is signed through the 17-18 season.

Doc Rivers, Pat Garrity and Travis Schlenk have been mentioned as candidates for the job.

Alex Martins has repeatedly deferred comment about Hennigan's job status until season's end.

"First and foremost, the criticism is warranted," Hennigan told the Sentinel last month. "I don't know if it's welcome because no one likes to get criticized, but the job we have and the job we're trying to do is certainly subject to that. Our fans, quite frankly, deserve to be upset and deserve to be frustrated. ... I think the proverbial hot seat comes with the territory."

If the Orlando Magic decide to fire Rob Hennigan but keep Frank Vogel as head coach instead of a more ambitious plan such as hiring Doc Rivers, Pat Garrity has emerged as a potential target.

Garrity is working with the Detroit Pistons under Stan Van Gundy.

Garrity played for the Magic from 1999 until 2008.

After his playing career was over, Garrity completed his MBA at Duke and worked for a hedge fund in Connecticut. Garrity returned to basketball in 2014 when Van Gundy was hired by the Pistons. The Pistons' analytics staff reports to Garrity and he also helps manage Detroit's cap.

The Orlando Magic could pursue Doc Rivers this offseason.

"There has been persistent chatter for weeks over the NBA's front-office grapevine that the Orlando Magic and Rivers will explore a reunion down the road," writes Stein.

Rivers' first head coaching job was with the Magic and he still maintains a home in the area.

Rivers is under contract to serve as Los Angeles Clippers coach and president of basketball operations through the 2018-19 season. 

The Clippers will surely evaluate all aspects of their operation this offseason unless they win a title. The Clippers started the season 14-2 but have struggled with inconsistency and injuries ever since.

Rob Hennigan is widely expected to be fired at the end of the current season as general manager of the Magic. Frank Vogel is in his first season as head coach.

Now that Dwight Howard has had a quiet and productive existence with the Atlanta Hawks, he talked about the end of his time with the Orlando Magic.

Howard claims the Magic agreed to trade him after the 2011 lockout before he could opt out in 2012. Howard ended up opting in with the Magic in March, which took away his free agency option and led to his trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.

"After the situation in Orlando, I never really came out and said my side of the story about what was going on there while I was there and the reasons for me wanting to leave," said Howard. "After that, people just decided that, ‘He’s not going to talk about it, so we might as well come up with a narrative and what we think went on in L.A. and what went on with Kobe [Bryant] and what we think happened with James [Harden].’ I never had a personal vendetta with either one of those guys. People took it as me having a problem with them being on a team with another superstar.

"I’ve never been the one to say, ‘OK, I want to talk about this because it was an issue with me.’ But everyone else kind of made it a storyline. And here in Atlanta, there is no storyline."

Howard was asked about what really happened with Orlando.

"I really hate going back with it. There were a lot of different things that happened in Orlando that people never talked about. Before the season even started during the lockout, I asked them privately, I even talked to [teammate] Jameer [Nelson] and [then-general manager] Otis [Smith] and I said, ‘Hey, I just want a change in my life. It has nothing to do with [then-coach] Stan Van Gundy. This has nothing to do with the players here in Orlando. It has nothing to do with Orlando itself.’ I just felt I was too comfortable and I wanted more for myself and more for basketball.

"It had nothing to do with the team. They said they were going to try to move me. I thought it was going to happen. They came in and said, ‘We’re going to trade you.’ They shook my hand and said, ‘God bless you. You were here for eight years and you did a great job.’ They asked me to go shake my teammates’ hands. I went and shook their hands and told them that the team was going to trade me. I woke up the next day and they said, ‘We’re not going to trade you.’

"This was right after the [2011 NBA] lockout. I was supposed to get traded right before training camp. I had asked them to trade me to Brooklyn and I thought that was going to happen. They decided they weren’t going to trade me and that was when all hell broke loose. People said I was doing this in the locker room, doing that. But I’ve never been that kind of guy. I told my agent, ‘Listen, they want me here, so I will just stay here until the end of the season and I’ll make a decision after that. Let’s not fight it. Let’s not go back and forth. Let’s not talk about it.’

"And we did that. But every day in the media it was a different story. I was the type of person where I’m not going to focus on what is being said. I’m going to focus on winning and trying to win for this team while I’m here."