Waiting on a trade could prove costly for Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic may need to be super aggressive before the February trade deadline if the team still has Playoff aspirations for 2017.

If we have learned anything about the 2017 Orlando Magic, we know this team has yet to develop into a Playoff-contending team, which is something the organization promised it would be.

Yes, the Magic are just outside the Playoff picture — two games out heading into Friday’s games — but it does not feel like the team is about to make a big push to burst onto the scene. They are tantalizingly close, yet not inspiring confidence.

If this current roster is not good enough to contend for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, Rob Hennigan and company need to make a trade sooner rather than later.

This team has shown they are not good enough offensively to take the next step to becoming a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference on the offensive side of the ball.

When the organization chose to acquire Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo last summer, their belief was Nikola Vucevic, Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon were going to make a jump offensively.

That has not happened yet at almost the season’s midpoint.

There have been many excuses to why this has not happened thus far.

Some say it is because of the lack of chemistry the team had at the beginning of the year. Some say it is because the team does not have a legitimate 20-point per game scorer. And others say it is because the two top-10 picks of the 2014 draft (Aaron Gordon, fourth overall, and Elfrid Payton, 10th overall) have yet to develop.

While Orlando filled its roster with a lot of complementary players, each player on the team would be a fourth or fifth option on a championship contending team. There is no galvanizing star to drive the team forward. No surefire offensive option to get the team out of an offensive rut.

Evan Fournier is a clear example of this. He is the leading scorer on the Magic roster averaging a little less than 18 points per game. If he was on the Cleveland Cavaliers or Golden State Warriors, he would be a secondary offensive option as a starter or a sixth man.

The Magic have no surefire candidate to make the All-Star team. They may not even have a clear nominee.

This is all partly by design. The Magic had to design an offense that featured a lot more passing to overcome this lack of top-end talent or one-on-one scorer. Not to mention the team’s dearth of shooting.

Opponents have exposed this weakness time and time again.

The Magic need a bona fide scorer who can average more than 20 points per game and demand respect from the rest of the NBA.

This need feels obvious. If we all know this to be the truth, Hennigan needs to be more proactive in finding that player well before the February trade deadline.

By all accounts the Magic are very active in trade discussions. They have said so publicly. But as the team continues to be inconsistent and pile up losses, the urgency for change only grows.

Sticking with this roster for an extended amount of time may lead to a dispirited locker room as losses continue to pile up, more inconsistency and the return of a losing culture, filled with negative spirits.

That is not how you develop young players, much less make the Playoffs this year as the directive seems to be.

Teams develop young players by putting them around an offensive threat, a top-10 scoring leader, the entire NBA has to respect on a night-to-night basis. That helps unlock and clarify roles and more clearly define everyone’s jobs. That helps teams make their Playoff pushes.

That is something Hennigan has failed to do in his tenure with Orlando.

Hennigan has never drafted or traded for a 20-point-per-game scorer, and the effects of not doing so are glaring. The team has never formed an identity or experienced any real success. And this could lead to a couple of young careers deteriorating.

The need for this team to make a move for a bona fide scorer was clear Wednesday, right after the debacle against the Charlotte Hornets. Kemba Walker was clearly the best offensive player on the court, although Nicolas Batum almost messed around and had a triple double.

Oftentimes the Magic have to overcome not having the best player on the court and not knowing exactly where their scoring will come from. This should only increase the urgency to make a deal, especially if the team remains so inconsistent.

No one on this current roster should be off limits for the Magic, no one is good enough for Hennigan not to potentially explore as a trade option.

The days of making excuses about the upside of Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton are not legitimate arguments at this point. Most players are who they are in their third year. And the Magic, after four years out of the Playoffs, are desperate to win now.

There is not any more time to waste, unless this team admits they are not and will not shape into a playoff team in 2017. There is no sense delaying what must be done in February. If there is a deal on the table, the Magic should not feel they have to wait until the deadline to trade.

There have been some suggestions Magic would be a good landing spot for DeMarcus Cousins in a potential trade. If that is the case the Magic should offer any player the Sacramento Kings want and make this trade happen the second he is available — the Kings are currently in the heat of their own Playoff race and all indications from Chris Mannix of The Vertical is Cousins is not available for a trade at this point.

If the Magic continue to wait when rumors circulate about All-Star caliber players appearing to be available, it sums up the microcosm of Hennigan’s tenure as the general manager. They must pounce when the opportunity arises and not wait for anything better to come about.

The Magic should be a better team, considering the vast amount of lottery picks the team has missed out on.

The next month is critical for this Magic team as it enters arguably the toughest part of this schedule. The team will face a host of potential playoff teams in the first half of January, including the team’s first long West Coast trip.

This is a make-or-break stretch of games for the team. The Magic will have to show some newfound consistency to finish .500 with this current roster and stay in the Playoff conversation.

This was the same kind of stretch the Magic faced last year when they boasted a 19-13 record, led by Tobias Harris, Victor Oladipo and Nikola Vucevic. Many Magic fans already know January was less than superb last year. Their 2-12 record ended every thought of a potential playoff run last year.

That stretch in January was essentially the ingredient that broke up a young core of promising players from last years roster. And this year looks to be no different.

Next: Consistent Aaron Gordon key to Playoff hopes

Sooner rather than later, the Magic have to push forward and make a deal to make their Playoff push more certain.