Orlando Magic Trade Value Column 2016

The Orlando Magic have already made a deal ahead of the trade deadline. Who is to say whether they are done or what comes next? We assess the team’s assets.

Well, we have finally made it to this point.

The All-Star Break is over and the rest of the season stands before us. The trade deadline Thursday will offer the last chance to make any major improvements to the Orlando Magic’s roster and get that last little push toward the Playoffs, potentially.

Or to free up cap space for the summer and be players during the summer of 2016 to improve the team.

The Magic struck first at the trade deadline in trading Tobias Harris to the Detroit Pistons for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova, in a move that should shore up the Magic’s bench the rest of this season and clear some cap space for the summer.

They then reportedly agreed to deal Channing Frye to the Los Angeles Clippers for more cap space.

There is no secret around the league the Magic were and are continuing to search for a deal. Looking at the roster as constructed before the Tobias Harris trade, it is somewhere between the 19-13 stellar team that raced out of the gates and took the league by storm and the 2-12 team that had everyone scratching their head.

Recency bias has us remembering the disaster of January more than the successes of December right now. But it is still extremely disconcerting.

So too are the continued losses late in games and the inability to close teams out. This Magic team is missing something and at some point in the very near future will have to resolve these issues to take a step forward.

That is what has brought urgency to the trade deadline this time around. The Magic know they need something new to take a step forward.

It has the team reportedly aggressively pursuing a veteran to give some leadership and guidance to the roster on the floor and perhaps thinking a little bit bigger. And obviously making a pretty major move.

The Magic are in a real interesting spot in their development. They are clearly ready to take the step up to the Playoffs, but still have some work to do to get the roster to that level.

In order to get something though, the Magic have to give up something. And even that part of the equation is difficult.

The Magic have invested a lot of time and even some money in some key players on the team. There are big decisions to come in the very near future and several young players still waiting for development. No one on this team has reached their ceiling (most likely) and no one on the team is quite at an All-Star level.

The Magic have a lot of young players that should attract some interest. But who are the Magic willing to give up to get something major? Who are the Magic ready to move on from? Who are the Magic hoping to keep and continue developing? How do they balance that with winning.

There are a lot of factors involved as the trade deadline approaches.

Cost-benefit analyses are definitely in play. Contract length, value and free agency are in play as is trying to figure out what you could get for a player. All we can do right now is assess what the Magic have on their roster.

Like last year, we are going to revive the old Bill Simmons trade value column and put the magnifying glass on the Magic. Yes, I started writing this before the Harris trade and so Harris’ ranking and a brief analysis is included. Trading Jennings and Ilyasova at this point would have to come immediately and I do not have enough information to properly rank them in comparison to the Magic’s other assets.

In making this ranking we are considering several factors: current play, potential, contract length and marketability. Essentially the rankings are saying you would trade the player straight up for any player above them — i.e. you are not trading No. 1 for anyone, only would trade No. 2 for No. 1 and so on. That was the basic idea of Simmons’ original column.

This is not to suggest a deal or who the Magic would or would not give up. Just how to rank and assess the team’s current assets.

Next: Category I -- Sure you can have him