The Orlando Magic completed their deal to hire Jeff Weltman as the president of basketball operations, sending a second round pick to the Toronto Raptors.
The Orlando Magic officially hired Jeff Weltman as their president of basketball operations Monday and officially introduced him to the media Wednesday. On Thursday, the Magic completed the deal that would bring Weltman to Orlando from the Toronto Raptors.
To get the Raptors to release Weltman from his contract as that team’s general manager, the Magic agreed to convey a second round pick to the Raptors.
Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports it will be the worst of Orlando’s 2018 second round picks. The Magic currently own their own second round pick in 2018 and the Los Angeles Lakers’ second-round pick from the Dwight Howard trade (it was conveyed after the Lakers landed the top three of this year’s Draft).
Sources: As compensation for Weltman hire, Orlando will send Toronto the least favorable of the two second-round picks it controls in 2018.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 25, 2017
It is not common for teams to exchange actual assets for front office personnel. But it is not uncommon either.
The Magic traded a second-round pick to the Miami Heat in order to hire Stan Van Gundy and get him released from his contract. The story at the time was the Heat were willing to let Van Gundy out of his contract to coach the Sacramento Kings but not for their division rivals from Central Florida.
The acquisition of Weltman also came with another caveat, one that appears to be a little-known league rule.
As part of this deal sending a pick to the Raptors, the league will prohibit the Magic and Raptors from making a trade until the end of the 2018 season. This is ostensibly done to prevent any type of side deals involving players or any lopsided trades to make up for losing an executive or any sweetheart deals between the teams.
Sources: Provision in Toronto-Orlando deal restricts the two teams from trading players with each other until end of the 2017-18 season.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 25, 2017
The last time this league rule was invoked was when the Boston Celtics “traded” Doc Rivers to the LA Clippers.
Orlando and Toronto did business last year. The Magic traded Serge Ibaka to the Raptors for Terrence Ross and a first round pick (that would become the 25th overall pick).
It is unclear what compensation if any the Magic had to give to the Milwaukee Bucks to hire John Hammond as their new general manager. He had one year left on his contract with the Bucks.
It likely will not include a second round pick or other similar considerations. Magic CEO Alex Martins said the team had to ask permission to interview Hammond for the president of basketball operations position and then again for the general manager position. They received permission on both counts.
This deal should solidify the Magic’s front office leadership, allowing them to hit the ground running as draft preparations are well under way. The next step will be solidifying the staff. The Magic released several staff members Monday in preparation for the official announcement of Weltman’s hiring.
That appears to be all the team will do for now.
A source tells Orlando Magic Daily the team will not make any further personnel changes to the basketball operations department for now. Most notably, that likely means the plan is to retain Matt Lloyd, although his retention and his role are still to be determined.
This decision, of course, could change at any point and even after the draft and much of the offseason activity is done.
Martins said the team is preparing to make a significant investment in its basketball operations.
Next: Jeff Weltman arrives to Orlando ready to listen, lead
Certainly, the team did that in bringing in such highly regarded leaders like Weltman and Hammond. And the Magic gave up a lot on top of that to ensure they got their guy. It appears that is just the beginning of this investment.