NBA Trade Rumors: Are Orlando Magic making mistake with Maurice Harkless trades?

The Orlando Magic are seeking very little in exchange for swingman Maurice Harkless trades, and that seems like a huge mistake.

When the Orlando Magic dealt franchise center Dwight Howard, the team acquired Maurice Harkless as one of five players and draft picks in return.

A player with mostly potential at the time, his promise has remained mostly unrealized. But that does not mean the Orlando Magic should give him away for next to nothing.

Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports that the Orlando Magic are willing to deal Maurice Harkless for “minimal return.”

If this is true, then Magic GM Rob Hennigan may be making a mistake. Harkless while still very raw, has shown enough flashes to believe that the proverbial pan may shake out some gold nuggets still.

To see Harkless go on to shine with another club may be painful. And, this is a theme many Magic fans may feel is a specific nightmare to this franchise.

But it is not.

Teams frequently jettison players whose potential is very untapped and the subsequent team proceeds to make the player into the guy he was supposed to be. It is not unheard of, by any means, and the Magic need look no further than Trevor Ariza, whose story is eerily similar to Harkless’ journey.

Unlike Harkless — who was a mid-first round pick after just one season at St. John’s — Ariza came far less heralded going No. 43 overall in 2004 after a very similar one-and-done at UCLA.

When the Magic obtained Ariza from the New York Knicks in the 2006 season, he was very unrefined much like Harkless. He could get to the basket, but unlike Harkless he finished pretty well at the rim (an astounding 70 percent in his 2008 season with the Orlando Magic and L.A. Lakers).

Harkless is a woeful 30 percent from 0 to 3 feet over his 183 career games. This is a guy who is primarily a slasher, and that requires an ability to finish.

Even long-time Magic forward Donald Royal, who could not shoot his way out of a paper bag, could get it in the cup when he blew by a defender. That is requirement 1A for a player with Harkless’ skill set.

Still, Ariza could not launch it from outside of the paint hardly, never mind hit the corner three with precision. With Orlando, he was a shadow of the very effective role player he became later in his career. Ariza’s agent made the somewhat outlandish claim that his client was “a jumpshot away from being an All-Star.”

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That elusive jumpshot can keep a player from so many great things, to be overly reductive and mildly facetious.

What is more is that Ariza’s best season was not his most productive statistically. While haunting the Magic in the worst way, the former Bruin took it to his former mates in the 2009 NBA Finals as a member of the L.A. Lakers, Ariza played 24 minutes a game that season, producing per-36 numbers of 13.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.5 steals while shooting 46 percent from the floor and 32 percent from three.

While with the Magic, Ariza never shot better than 27 percent from behind the arc. He continued to hone the three-point shot to the point that he hit 40.7 percent as a member of the Washington Wizards in 2013-14. That seemingly set Ariza up for a nice pay day, but he ended up getting mid-level money from the Houston Rockets over the offseason, where he has shined.

Back to Harkless: Is this a journey the swingman could make?

He has already been ahead of the curve Ariza was on early in his career, at least shooting the ball from distance. Last season, Hark hit 38.3 percent from three-point range and continued his trend of picking up over a steal per game in just 24 minutes a night. His career path is all but laid out before him, but he hasn’t had the minutes to start to build on that blueprint.

The method of being a lock-down defender and spot up shooter is there for any athletic 3-man, yet not all are able to achieve the niche. What separates Harkless from the likes of Ariza, Tony Allen, Thabo Sefolosha, Bruce Bowen and so on to infinity?

Superficially, the answer could be precious little. A player needs the opportunity.

He has shot the ball disastrously this year, and there is no ambiguity there. His three-point percentage has dipped to that of a JV high school player from three-feet behind the arc, hitting just 15.6 percent, while he is even averaging more than two points less per-36 than his career average.

The steals are still there, but this is a facet that Harkless can become a terror at. He has all the tools to be a plus-defender in the Association, but former head coach Jacque Vaughn had little confidence in allowing the St. John’s product to do his thing on the court.

Now, the Magic seem prepared to just cut the losses with Harkless and deal him to whatever team can offer the most, while making it clear that the “most” does not have to be much at all.

It may hurt to see Harkless go on to find success with another team.

Magic fans may collectively shake their heads three seasons from now and say “We once gave that guy away.” And rightfully the team should be prepared for that to be the case.

However, it is a nasty life cycle in the development of prospects, and some just need new situations to pan out.

That may just end up being the case with Maurice.

Magic fans will wish No. 21 well, but for the meantime fingers can remain crossed that some team will at least offer a similar prospect or the chance at an unprotected second rounder (more valuable than some levy it).

An unprotected second or cash may end up being the route the Magic settle on, and it just will not be satisfying considering this was once one of the great mystery chips in the Howard deal.

Next: Where is Maurice Harkless on the Magic Trade Value column?