Orlando Magic would still be wise to retain Maurice Harkless

Maurice Harkless has yet to establish his niche in the NBA, but the return on his value does not make dealing him worth it.

There are schools of thought regarding the trading of young talents who have not panned out.

One line of reasoning is the prospect is seen to his end, all avenues of development are exhausted and his initial contract expires.

Another line is that he is dealt before his trade value “bottoms out,” so that some assets can be obtained.

And lastly, there is trying to play the guy to boost his stock, then dealing him before seeing the process through.

The Magic should exercise the first of these three options with Harkless because he has shown enough in stretches to be the type of player Orlando wants him to be. Orlando needs to explore every option and role within its schemes to see if Harkless can succeed.

The results from Harkless have hardly been so inspired in his three-year career though.

He still makes rookie mistakes, and he has been in the league three full seasons. Harkless still appears to be unsettled within the offense, which is largely a product of having developed no role nor comfort. Most of his on-court struggles can be attributed to just not having received enough opportunity, but the question then becomes “Why?”

That is a lot more difficult to pinpoint.

Next: Never seeing the court