Rob Hennigan Reportedly Fired by Magic After 5 Years with Franchise

The Orlando Magic reportedly fired general manager Rob Hennigan on Thursday following five seasons with the team, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel confirmed the decision, adding assistant general manager Scott Perry was also fired. Assistant general manager Matt Lloyd was named the interim GM, per Robbins.

Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report reported Hennigan was responsible for the infamous photo of forward Patricio Garino in front of a whiteboard that appeared to show the team's free agency and trade targets for the upcoming offseason. 

Hennigan joined the Magic in June 2012 after serving as an assistant general manager with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and he made a major splash just months into his tenure when he shipped Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers in a whopping four-team trade that also featured the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets. 

Orlando received a sizable haul that included Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless, a future first-round pick and Arron Afflalo, but the team's rebuild never took a definitive shape after that monumental move was made. 

Although the Magic were able to land studs like Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Elfrid Payton to the fold during Hennigan's tenure, they were never able to develop an identity. 

Part of the reason for those struggles stemmed from inconsistency on the bench. Dating back to the start of the 2012-13 season, the Magic have had four different head coaches (Jacque Vaughn, James Borrego, Scott Skiles, Frank Vogel) serve in a full-time or interim capacity.

As a result of the organizational instability, the Magic topped 30 wins just once (2015-16) during Hennigan's time at the helm. Understandably, ownership decided to move in a different direction. 

However, Orlando's next GM will not have an easy road ahead.  

While the Magic have some solid building blocks in tow, they need to carve out a more concrete vision for what the future will look like following years in Eastern Conference purgatory. 

With that history in mind, Orlando may have to embrace a more meticulous rebuild that avoids shortcuts through veteran stopgap additions in order to reach its full potential.