Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag Volume 23: Draft to the Future!

I answered some of this question above regarding Elfrid Payton. But maybe it deserves a bigger answer here. The same goes for Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier.

The easy answer is I do not know. It is really hard to figure out what value any of these three players have on their own. They each have their own individual problems that will shrink their value — some of it nothing to do with their play.

Let’s start with Payton. The question here, unlike the previous question, is not whether the Magic should trade Payton but what they could get for him.

To me, it is hardest to figure out how other teams view Payton. He clearly, through the triple doubles he accumulated late last season, has the ability to be a solid player in the league. He needs a better situation to work though. A team is not about to pay a ransom for that kind of player.

Payton’s restricted free agency will add another wrinkle to that equation. I am not sure there is a team out there who believes in Payton so much to go out of their way for his restricted free agent rights. At this point for Payton, I think you could get a struggling rookie or a lower-tiered veteran. Pretty much role players.

That is the thing about all three of these players. Trading them is only going to net your role players. I do not think you can trade either Elfrid Payton, Nikola Vucevic or Evan Fournier and get an upgrade. I do not think either player has that kind of value — or potential in him.

Vucevic is another great example. This current trade market is saturated with centers with obvious flaws that do not quite fit the modern NBA. It is going to be tough to trade Vucevic for equal value with players like Brook Lopez, Jahlil Okafor and probably even Dwight Howard on the market too.

So, again, I think the Magic would have to be willing to take on a bad contract to move Vucevic in addition to a player they want. And that is likely a bench player too, not a starter.

Like Payton, the Magic probably value Vucevic more than any other team. And so that makes it difficult to make a deal that improves the team.

Fournier’s contract is a bit different. He is in the second year of a four-year deal that pays him $17 million per year. So the Magic would have to take back equal salary and likely take on a bad contract to move him.

This is all to say, the Magic would have to take a step backward talent wise to move any of these players, at least for now. They have to take a step forward on the court to change that value.