Orlando Magic Player Evaluations: Shabazz Napier
The Orlando Magic acquired Shabazz Napier for virtually nothing and he came in with few expectations. Somehow he underwhelmed in a major way.
In the middle of the summer, the Miami Heat surely came to the Orlando Magic with an offer. For the price of (virtually) absolutely nothing, you will get a former first round pick who had won a national championship and had that skill the Magic so desperately needed in his shooting.
For virtually nothing? Why wouldn’t the Magic take the risk?
And so it was the Magic acquired Shabazz Napier for a second round pick that is so protected that there is virtually no chance the team will ever send it to the Heat. It was the same deal Orlando made with the Portland Trail Blazers for Maurice Harkless.
It was a player the trading team had no use for and a team willing to give him one more try. On a rookie contract, Napier was a low-risk move that would either pan out or be completely meaningless.
That is, of course, if injuries did not play a role.
This year, injuries hit the point guard position hard and Shabazz Napier found himself playing a lot of backup point guard and the Magic found themselves relying pretty heavily on Napier. They found out exactly what he could be in the NBA.
The result?
Well, Napier was not the surefire prospect LeBron James seemed to expect when he publicly campaigned for the Heat to draft him in the 2014 NBA Draft. He was not counted on for much of anything. Even his shooting and creation was not as advertised. He was a shooting guard stuck in a point guard’s body and a college star that could not transition to the professional game.
Napier had his moments. But they were really few and far between. For the most part, Napier’s weaknesses were apparent and the Magic had to move on. During that stretch Elfrid Payton was out in January, the Magic opted to use Mario Hezonja as the backup point guard rather than Napier.
That says a lot.
It is rare a first round pick does not make it through his rookie contract. The Magic opted to pick up his team option for a third year before the season. That is looking like a mistake based on Napier’s play from 2016.
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