The 1989–90 NBA season was the inaugural season for the Orlando Magic in the National Basketball Association.^[1] Several years after local developer and banker Jim Hewitt began promoting the idea of an NBA franchise in Florida, he was awarded the "Orlando Magic". The Magic, along with the Minnesota Timberwolves, joined the NBA as expansion teams in 1989.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Hewitt's first move was to hire Philadelphia 76ers General Manager Pat Williams; together, the two convinced the NBA to give Orlando, Florida a franchise after local fans made $100 deposits on season-ticket reservations.^{[7][8][9][10]} The Magic revealed a new primary logo, which showed a silver star as the letter "A" in the team name "Magic", along with a blue basketball with silver shooting stars.^[11] The team also added new pinstripe uniforms, adding blue, black and silver to their color scheme.^[12][13]

In the 1989 NBA Expansion Draft, the Magic selected veteran players like Reggie Theus, Terry Catledge, Otis Smith, Jerry Reynolds, Sam Vincent, Sidney Green, Scott Skiles and Mark Acres.^{[14][15][16][17][18]} The Magic received the eleventh overall pick in the 1989 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard Nick Anderson from the University of Illinois.^{[19][20][21][22]} The team also hired Matt Guokas as their first ever head coach.^[23][24]

On November 4, 1989, a sold out crowd watched the Magic lose, 111–106 to the New Jersey Nets in the first ever game played at the Orlando Arena.^[25][26][27] On November 6, the franchise experienced its first victory as the Magic stunned the New York Knicks, 118–110.^[28][29][30] The Magic got off to a surprising start, posting a 7–7 record in November. On February 14, 1990, before a game against the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan's number 23 jersey was stolen from the Bulls' locker room at the Orlando Arena; Jordan had to wear a number 12 jersey, and scored 49 points as the Magic won in overtime, 135–129.^{[31][32][33][34]} However, the team struggled through long losing streaks throughout their inaugural season, including a 15-game losing streak near the end of the season. The Magic finished last place in the Central Division with a record of 18 wins and 64 losses.^[35][36]

Catledge led the Magic in scoring with 19.4 points and contributed 7.6 rebounds per game, while Theus averaged 18.9 points and 5.4 assists per game, and Smith provided the team with 13.5 points per game. In addition, Reynolds contributed 12.8 points per game, while Anderson contributed 11.5 points per game off the bench, Vincent provided with 11.2 points and 5.6 assists per game, and Green averaged 10.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. Second round draft pick Michael Ansley averaged 8.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, while Skiles contributed 7.7 points and 4.8 assists per game, and Acres averaged 4.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.^[37] Following the season, Theus was traded to the New Jersey Nets after just one season with the Magic.^{[38][39][40][41]}

The team's primary logo remained in use until 2000, while the uniforms lasted until 1998. The black pinstripe road jerseys would be used as the team's primary road uniforms until 1994, where they added blue pinstripe uniforms, and the black pinstripe jerseys became their alternate.

Prior to the 1989 NBA draft, the NBA held a coin toss between the Magic and the other new expansion team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, to determine their order for the NBA Draft and the expansion draft. The Magic won the coin toss and chose to have the first pick in the expansion draft and pick 11th in the NBA Draft, while the Timberwolves picked second in the expansion draft and 10th in the NBA Draft.

The previous season's expansion teams, the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, were not involved in this year's expansion draft and did not lose any player.