What we learned about the 1995 Orlando Magic from “Blue Chips” oral history

The Magic created cap room, and that was their undoing

"John Gabriel: Cap room was a bit of a newfound commodity. We traded Scott Skiles to Washington and were going to use those funds to sign Horace, and the league initially disallowed it, saying that we weren’t getting fairly compensated, that we were only doing it to create cap room. We said, “That’s wrong because?”"

The NBA has had a salary cap ostensibly since the 1985 season. It has gotten more and more complex over time and free agency has changed the landscape of the league. Fans today are just as knowledgeable about what goes on during the season as they are what goes on in board rooms at the trade deadline and on draft night.

As the Magic were preparing to build their championship team, they wanted a veteran to help lead and guide the way but free up the point guard position for Penny Hardaway. That meant trading Scott Skiles.

What did the Magic do to get rid of Skiles? It might have been the first straight salary dump in league history.

The Magic traded Skiles with two first round picks acquired from the Warriors in the Hardaway deal for a future second round pick (which became Randy Livingston) and a future first round pick (which became Keon Clark). Essentially, Orlando traded its starting point guard for nothing.

What that did though was clear the cap room to sign Horace Grant, who was a really important voice in the locker room and a veteran defender to take the pressure off Shaquille O’Neal.

You can imagine everyone around the league getting upset at this knowing what was coming in Orlando.

Turnabout is fair play though. Everyone cried foul again when the Lakers traded George Lynch and Anthony Peeler along with several picks for two second round picks. These were two rotation players, mind you. That gave the Lakers enough cap room to offer O’Neal $120 million.

The Magic could not match. Or their low-ball offer was too far away and the extra cash was icing on the cake for the Lakers and O’Neal.

Next: The 1995 Bench