The Orlando Magic struck first at the trade deadline in shipping out Tobias Harris. That was a major move. Could there be another one left before Thursday?
The Orlando Magic struck first at the trade deadline, swinging a sacrifice bunt of a deal to acquire Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova in return for Tobias Harris.
Rob Hennigan and the Orlando Magic had put out plenty of reports and had said they would explore all options and be open to just about anything. Hennigan has always said in preparing for these big trading seasons that his team will be opportunistic and nothing will ever be off the table, but they would remain patient.
He pounced on one deal that appears to have cleared some cap room for the summer and helped bolster the bench while defining roles on the current roster.
Before the trade, the Magic were aggressively pursuing a veteran by many reports and have gotten themselves involved with a few big names. They were pursuing all options and it seems very little is off the table.
The Magic clearly were OK dealing a big contract and the rumors were rolling even before this deal the Magic were open to something big.
At this point, however, lots of teams are having discussions about a lot of different scenarios. What gets to the media can be leaked to increase market value or put pressure on other teams rather than an indications of talks progressing to the more serious stage.
And that includes the Magic, who still may be trying to make a deal.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Hennigan said Tuesday. “I think we have to continue to be open to ideas. It’s hard to say right now.”
One of those ideas appears to be a deal sending Channing Frye to the Los Angeles Clippers for a package of players and more cap relief for this upcoming summer.
Still, there is precious short time to make a decision on many of these issues and many of these players and potential deals as the deadline approaches Thursday.
And in no way should the Magic be done with the trade deadline. There are still opportunities to improve the team to root out.
There will still be rumors because the trade deadline may not be a final deadline, of course. The Magic are looking at the long game too and they have to consider their long-term future in any deal too. The deal with the Pistons was very much one that had an eye on the long term.
And the Magic will still be in that boat. Really after this deal nothing has changed from the Magic other than the potential for more cap room in the summer.
All the things the Magic are looking for remain largely the same. The Magic are still going to measure their options, assess the market and look for opportunities to improve the team.
I joined the Bang the Book Podcast to look at the rest of the season and specifically the Southeast Division and broke down the Magic’s mindset entering the trade deadline (I hop on about 30 minutes into the show):
The Magic are likely thinking at this point the team still needs some measure of improvement and trading Harris helps free up possessions for the Magic’s other key players and potentially gives Evan Fournier more time on the floor at small forward or Aaron Gordon more time on the floor in general.
The Magic may not be completely done. There is still a lot of work to do if the Magic want to make the Playoffs this year and set themselves up to make a bigger splash in the summer perhaps.
As Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders put it Tuesday morning on Open Mike, the Magic still need to find a star:
That will remain the overarching goal for the Magic as they move forward with their next set of moves. That could mean they wait until the summer and go after that big-name free agent with the potential cap room they should have from this deal.
At this point, the Magic are listening to everything and exploring a number of options. That does not necessarily mean the team is ready to make another deal or has a specific deal in mind.
The only unfortunate part is one of the Magic’s biggest chess pieces has been played. It is tough to make any deals with Tobias Harris off the books as one of the big salary players. As of now, Nikola Vucevic is the highest paid player on the roster at about $12 million. It is harder to make big moves for star players and match salaries without that presence there.
But the Magic certainly may not be done. There are some cosmetic changes to make — Channing Frye seems superfluous now with Ersan Ilyasova on the team. And the team likes having that free roster spot open — there are now 15 players on the team.
Whether they will pull the trigger on another major deal is unclear at this point. But there are still two days before the trade deadline to go.
Next: Dealing Tobias Harris was a necessary risk
Anything is possible.