ORLANDO, Fla. — In a results-obsessed sports world where legacy is often defined by banners, rings and winning percentages, Alex Martins departs as CEO of the Orlando Magic with something far more layered — and, perhaps, even more meaningful — than a championship trophy:

Compassion, consistency and a commitment to something bigger than basketball.

Martins, the Orlando Sentinel has learned, is stepping down from the role he’s held with the Magic for the past 14 years, transitioning into a newly created position of vice chair at a time when team ownership begins ushering in the next generation of DeVos family leadership.

With Martins no longer running the day-to-day operations of the franchise, Ryan DeVos and Charlie Freeman step into larger leadership roles. Freeman, the new President of Business Operations, is entering his 30th season with the Magic and will become the franchise’s chief financial architect.

But make no mistake about it, this is also a move to further groom Ryan DeVos, the grandson of late owner Rich DeVos, as the head of the ownership group someday. He now moves into a new role as managing director, working closely with Freeman, President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman and the Magic Board of Directors. Meanwhile, another Rich DeVos grandson, Cole DeVos, will relocate to Orlando at the beginning of the 2025-26 season to become a part of the management team as well.

“This is an opportunity for the third-generation of the DeVos family to get more involved in the organization and to start getting closer to day-to-day decision-making,” Martins says.

This has all been part of the plan since Martins, 61, approached ownership two years ago, telling the DeVos family that he wanted to step down from the grind of being the franchise’s CEO. For Martins, it’s a graceful exit but it’s not a farewell. In a way, it’s him doing what he’s always done best: working behind the scenes, helping shape the future of the Magic — and Orlando.

For some, Martin’s legacy will prompt assessments of playoff droughts and lottery purgatory, and that’s fine and fair. That’s sports. But to define Alex Martins by the Magic’s win-loss record is to fundamentally misunderstand the impact he’s had — not just on a franchise, but on a city.

Martins officially became CEO of the Magic in December 2011, but his story began much earlier. First hired by the Magic in 1989, he worked his way up through the ranks, becoming the rare executive whose fingerprints could be found on virtually every aspect of the franchise: media, operations, partnerships, philanthropy and civic engagement. When he was finally elevated to the top job, it wasn’t just a promotion. It was a baptism by fire.

The Magic, once the toast of the league with a young Dwight Howard and an NBA Finals appearance in 2009, were imploding. Bob Vander Weide, then team president and son-in-law to Rich DeVos, was on the outs — the casualty of a divorce from the owner’s daughter and a franchise in turmoil.

That left Martins to clean up a mess, with a franchise superstar publicly asking for a trade, a beloved and respected coach (Stan Van Gundy) about to be awkwardly fired, and a fan base watching their dreams collapse in real time.

Martins didn’t always make the right calls. He hired Rob Hennigan, the youngest GM in league history, to lead the rebuild — a gamble that ended in a half-decade of basketball irrelevance. The Magic cycled through coaches, rosters and regimes, trying to recapture the glory of the Shaq-Penny and Dwight eras. And through it all, the playoffs became less a destination and more a rumor.

With only three winning seasons and no playoff series victories in 14 seasons, there’s no denying Martins presided over one of the least successful on-court periods in franchise history. However, he also replaced Henningan with highly respected team president Weltman, whose drafting acumen seemingly has the franchise set up for success for years to come.

If you ask me, Martins’ greatest impact was within the community. He was the driving force behind the public-private partnership that got the Kia Center built. It was a political and financial high-wire act, requiring delicate negotiations between the Magic, the city of Orlando and Orange County. Martins pulled it off, and in doing so, changed the landscape of downtown Orlando.

He and Weltman oversaw the design and construction of the Magic’s AdventHealth Training Center — a $70 million investment in a distressed downtown neighborhood that is considered the most cutting-edge practice and training facility in the NBA.

It’s never been just about basketball. Martins made sure of that. He often hearkens back to the words of Rich DeVos, who said when he bought the organization 35 years ago: “Don’t call us the owners of the franchise; call us the caretakers of the franchise. The real stakeholders of this team are the fans and community.”

Says Martins: “Mr. DeVos passed that philosophy on to all of us. He felt it was our obligation to be strong leaders and pillars within the community.”

Martins chaired the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation, helping to distribute more than $30 million in grants to more than 500 local nonprofits. Those efforts touch an estimated 100,000 children annually. That’s not just a number. That’s the soul of a franchise.

Martins was called upon by Mayor Buddy Dyer to lead the OneOrlando Fund in the wake of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub. It was a solemn assignment in a moment of citywide grief. Martins helped raise tens of millions of dollars for victims, families and survivors of the tragedy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he helped engineer the NBA’s “bubble” at Walt Disney World — a logistical marvel that allowed the league to resume play safely while avoiding mass outbreaks. The NBA bubble not only worked, it became a global model.

Martins also has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at UCF, where he worked behind the scenes to help secure the university’s place in the Big 12, catapulting the Knights into a new era of national prominence. He was just re-elected to a second term as the board chairman.

And while the Magic’s on-court product sputtered at times, the Magic’s business side thrived under Martins. Even during the lean years, Magic fans continued to buy tickets at an impressive rate. Martins led a comprehensive overhaul of the team’s business operations, growing ticket sales, sponsorships and media value to historic levels. In March 2024, Sports Business Journal named the Magic one of the Best Places To Work in Sports — the only franchise in the NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL to earn that distinction. That doesn’t happen by accident. That happens when a culture is built with intention.

“It starts with our staff,” Martins says. “I’ll put our staff up against any in professional sports.”

Yes, it’s easy to view executives through a single lens: Did your team win? But in professional sports, especially in markets like Orlando, the reality is more nuanced: Did you grow the franchise? Did you elevate the city? Did you serve the community when it needed you most?

Martins checks all those boxes.

He’s been an ambassador, a negotiator, a fundraiser, a visionary, a steward and — when the DeVos family needed him to be — a shield from public criticism.

When you build arenas, uplift nonprofits, shepherd a franchise through economic, civic, and cultural milestones, the scoreboard may not always tell your story.

In a city defined by growth, few have grown with Orlando — or given more to it — than Alex Martins.

No parades.

No confetti.

No rings.

Just impact.

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