Can the Orlando Magic wait for the summer to begin making moves? What happens if they stand pat now at the deadline and push everything off to the offseason?
Flynn: If the Magic do not make a trade at the deadline, they run the risk of losing Elfrid Payton for nothing this summer. Albeit his value is not very high. It would make sense for the Magic to make minor moves at the very least before Thursday’s trade deadline to set the table for bigger plans this upcoming off-season.
Palmer: The Magic can choose to stand pat if they would like, but I do not believe that is necessarily a smart choice. While you can choose to wait on Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier, guys like Mario Hezonja and Elfrid Payton probably need to be traded now. Both of their contracts are expiring and if you can recoup any value it makes sense to maximize your assets. While I understand that many fans do not want to trade Hezonja there is no reason for him to come back to Orlando next season so you may as well get something for him.
Treadway: Can they? Yes. Should they? Different question. As stated by my fellow writers above some players can afford to be moved in the offseason. If the Magic decide to move Nikola Vucevic, it would almost make more sense to do it in the offseason after he gets healthy again and plays the rest of the season out. But in a few cases (Elfrid Payton and Mario Hezonja), They have to get something for those guys and not let them leave as was virtually the case with Tobias Harris. Even some solid draft picks at this point would be better than nothing in return.
Rossman-Reich: I think inevitably the Magic will have to do a lot of work in the summer. Nikola Vucevic’s injury almost guaranteed that. The Magic just do not have the ability to move any big pieces right now. Letting their contracts flip over another year will likely lead to better outcomes for the team. Standing pat now though means the process is going to take a little bit longer. If Orlando can get a jump start on it now, that would certainly be a positive. I still think ownership wants to get things moving forward sooner than later. But these things will take time. The Magic cannot skip any steps.