Reports: Orlando Magic trade Tobias Harris to Detroit Pistons for Brandon Jennings, Ersan Ilyasova

The Orlando Magic have reportedly agreed to trade Tobias Harris to the Detroit Pistons for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova.

Multiple outlets are reporting the Orlando Magic have had discussions with the Detroit Pistons on a deal centered around Tobias Harris, Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova.

UPDATE: The deal is now official. The Magic will hold a press conference announcing the deal at 5:30 p.m.

The Magic’s aggression at the trade deadline and willingness to part with some key pieces is pretty well known at this point. The Magic are looking for a veteran to help balance the lineup and some added offense too.

Brandon Jennings theoretically does that. At one time, when Skiles was coaching him in Milwaukee, Jennings was something of a gunner who could put up a lot of points in a hurry.

But that seems like a lifetime ago.

Jennings tore his Achilles last season and has had some struggles getting back to full health. This year he returned to the Pistons on Dec. 29 and has struggled to get back to full speed. Coming off the bench this year, he is averaging 6.8 points per game while shooting 37.3 percent from the floor.

About the only thing good that can be said in acquiring Jennings for Harris is that Jennings’ three-year, $24-million contract expires at the end of the season. With Elfrid Payton, Victor Oladipo and Evan Fournier — not to mention Mario Hezonja — already on the roster, it is hard to see Jennings staying or being anything more than a potential bench insurance should Fournier leave.

The move cuts out Tobias Harris’ four-year, $52 million deal off the books and clears some potential cap room. But not much.

Ersan Ilyasova is a shooting power forward averaging 11.3 points per game and shooting 42.5 percent from the floor and 36.3 percent from beyond the arc. He is a mobile stretch-4 at this point in his career.

Ilyasova has one year remaining on his deal worth about $8.4 million. It is a non-guaranteed deal. Essentially in doing this deal, the Magic cut $8.8 million off their books for next summer before cap holds if they keep Ilyasova. Otherwise, they just cleared Harris’ salary completely.

That will give them some more cap room to play with, but likely not enough to acquire a max player — not that there are any aside from the big fish to go after.

Still, without getting a first round pick in return, the Magic are essentially trading a player they believed in enough to give big money to (and probably grossly under-used) and is only 23 years old into two reserve players — neither Jennings nor Ilyasova are likely to unseat starters like Elfrid Payton, Victor Oladipo or Aaron Gordon — who could be gone essentially at the end of this year.

It is hard to say exactly how this deal helps the Magic make the playoffs or improve for the rest of this season unless adding more scoring and depth move the needle and losing Harris from the starting lineup frees up Oladipo and Fournier more.

Harris had largely been a disappointment to many fans after signing that big contract and seeing his scoring average drop to 13.7 points per game and maintaining his efficiency as a shooter (at least inside the paint). His rebounding was also back up to 7.0 boards per game.

Giving up a 23-year-old with scoring potential and above-average rebounding for a small forward, even with his still improving defensive warts, for essentially two bench players the team may not keep anyway.

It raises questions as to what the bigger plan is here anyway.

At this stage, the Magic will have to see if they can make this work. Or possibly see if this springs up any other deals before things get finalized.