The Orlando Magic have reportedly agreed to trade Andrew Nicholson and actively shop him for a new home.
Maurice Harkless has gotten plenty of attention from Magic fans hungry to see the backup quarterback step onto the floor. As we all know, the backup quarterback is the most popular player on every team. The possibility of what could be over the disappointment of what is overwhelms fans.
So what about Andrew Nicholson?
Nicholson has played in just 18 games this year, scoring 56 total points (3.1 points per game) and shooting 35.8 percent from the floor. Nicholson has really disappointed.
Still, it is somewhat beyond explanation that Nicholson has not cracked the rotation. He has not played a game in a month!
That just seems ridiculous for a third-year player. The Magic picked up his option for next year, so it seems certain he will be in a Magic jersey next year, although Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports the Magic will make him available for a trade and are actively working with his agent to find him a new home. Whether he gets off the bench? That is another question entirely.
There is frustration regarding Nicholson’s lack of playing time. After all, the Magic are still ostensibly about player development and figuring out which players remain part of the future and which players are probably not in the plans. They need to get as much value as they can if the latter is the case.
Nicholson just has not been able to crack the rotation. So the question is whether he has a future not just with the Magic but in the NBA.
For St. Bonaventure fans, Nicholson is THE man. He is the only Bonnie in the NBA and for those who cannot watch Magic games all the time (not that Nicholson plays that often), they cannot figure out what happened his rookie year.
Ian Nolan from The Bona Blog reached out to try to get to the bottom of the Nicholson frustration. I tried to shed some light:
"It seemed like the Magic’s GM was pretty high on AN when he drafted him (obviously). Did Vaughn not care of his game as much or did both sour on him?I think the Magic are still pretty high on Nicholson and still believe he can deliver something. His post game is a unique skill in the modern NBA and he has shown he can step out and hit the 3-pointer. Offensively, he can hang in the league. His defense is where he still needs work.Ultimately, that is why he could not get playing time. Jacque Vaughn just never quite trusted him defensively. And then his offensive game seemed to sour. He lost faith in his post game as Vaughn had him playing more of the stretch-4 role as a shooter almost exclusively. It was disappointing to see Vaughn use him this way as it shot his confidence. When you watched Nicholson play for Canada, he showed all the skills that made him a NBA player, a solid post game and a jumper to keep defenses honest.Vaughn was not the right coach for him at the end of the day. He was not the right coach for the entire team. While key players showed plenty of progress and got plenty of run, Nicholson was pigeon-holed into a role he ultimately could not fulfill. Vaughn failed, like he had with a lot of players on the court, to put them in their best positions to succeed. Since Nicholson’s rookie year, he was trying to fit a round peg into a square hole."
Nicholson still has some value around the league for what he showed his rookie year and another team and another situation might fit him better. It is becoming clearer the situation in Orlando is not working out for him.
It came as a little surprise that word leaked out to Marc Stein of ESPN.com that Nicholson would be made available for a trade:
Orlando, I'm told, has made promising young big man Andrew Nicholson available via trade in advance of next week's trade deadline
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 12, 2015
Word is that the Magic, given their surplus of bigs, are working with Nicholson's agent Mark Bartelstein to try to find him new home
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 12, 2015
Nicholson’s fans (and probably even Magic fans who like Nicholson and hunger for him to play more) probably are welcoming this news. Of course, getting a return on a trade is the difficult part.
Nicholson is still on his rookie contract with his fourth year picked up on a team option before the season. He is owed $1.5 million this year and approximately $2.4 million next year. The Magic have cap room to absorb a larger salary, but it would not appear the Magic are going to be willing to commit much long term.
Perhaps it is possible to package Nicholson with a productive veteran like Willie Green to bring in a player that has more potential to be part of the team’s future. Of course, that would require a team wanting Green and Nicholson or valuing Nicholson as part of their team’s future plans. Nicholson has not proven himself to be that with how little he has played of late. The return for the Magic in a deal could be very small.
It is unfortunate that the Magic’s first round pick from 2012 is going to end his career with Orlando likely sitting on the bench and waiting for a trade to occur. The chances still seem slim unless the Magic have really given up on Nicholson and are willing to accept an expiring veteran they would just waive (think Hakim Warrick) or a second round pick for him.
It is still very possible the Magic find no deal and keep Nicholson through the rest of the season and see what he can do under whomever the Magic hire. Remember, J.J. Redick went through the same frustrations and then found a role that fit him with Stan Van Gundy as coach as opposed to Brian Hill.
The NBA’s trade deadline is next Thursday, February 19. So there is only a week to decide and figure things out.