Orlando Magic must be willing to eat some salary in a trade

The Orlando Magic are beginning to understand what a deal looks like to accomplish their goals. They will clearly have to take on some money in a trade.

The calls have only gotten louder as the season has gone on and the trade deadline draws closer. Everyone expects the Orlando Magic to make some kind of move before the Feb. 7 deadline to turn the franchise one direction or another.

The Magic, for sure, are going to explore every option and avenue. They are still a rebuilding team despite the Eastern Conference’s insistence they stay in the Playoff race. And the franchise is not going to discount the opportunity to make a Playoff push and play meaningful games later into the season.

The dueling motivations of reaching the Playoffs — Orlando is just one game out of the final spot — and still developing a rebuilding franchise is going to make for a complicated trade deadline.

No decision seems more complicated and difficult to decipher than the decision over future unrestricted free agents Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross.

Both are having career seasons. Both are vital to the Magic’s Playoff hopes.

And everything about what the Magic are going to do at the trade deadline will center around this tension between their continued development and their desire to break a six-year Playoff drought. There are arguments for both sides of the coin. But the team is not sending the message that it will give up on things while there is still a goal to achieve.

That will not stop the rest of the league from talking. The Magic are pretty much known at this point to be searching for a point guard. They have two valuable expiring contracts in Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross who are having career years.

The rumors will increase as the trade deadline gets closer and teams try to posture for the best deals. Already some have emerged that give us a clue to what offers might be on the table.

First, it appears Ross will be the most sought after player from the Magic. He is having a career year averaging a career-high 13.7 points per game on a 52.7 percent effective field goal percentage. His quick trigger and sweet shooting off the bench makes him an easy plug and play anywhere he might land.

The Magic, to this point, seem reluctant to deal Ross. Every report suggests the Magic would prefer to trade Jonathon Simmons.

But this is where the first trend appears. The rumor involving the New Orleans Pelicans and their pursuit of Ross suggested they would be willing to part with a first-round pick in their pursuit of the Playoffs — and making Anthony Davis happy.

Likely for them to do that, they would require the Magic to take on Solomon Hill and the remaining $13.3 million left on his deal for next year.

Then came Monday’s seeming bombshell the Dallas Mavericks were seriously considering trading Dennis Smith Jr. and had already engaged in discussions with the point guard-starved Phoenix Suns and Orlando Magic.

Already the contours of a deal become clear. And it is similar to what a deal with New Orleans looks like.

Without a matching salary — unless the team included a first-round pick with Jonathon Simmons — thoughts quickly turned to what kind of salary the Magic would take in return. Surely Dallas would want to slowly rid itself of big salary players like Harrison Barnes or Wesley Matthews (perhaps in return for Evan Fournier, who is paid less but has one more year on his deal). Or maybe they would just want the aforementioned Ross.

Dallas has always fancied itself a player in the bigger free agent market. Maybe the team senses this is the time to strike, although it may be more amenable to take on some long-term salary in the process.

Both of these rumors feel less likely to come true.

The Magic passed on Dennis Smith in the 2017 Draft in favor of Jonathan Isaac. And the Mavericks surely want to get some major long- and short-term assets in return for trading a player they drafted with a high Lottery pick just one year ago — think Jonathan Isaac or Aaron Gordon perhaps.

The Magic are not likely willing to trade those players.

So if a quality player-for-player swap is out and the Magic feel less likely to trade any future first round pick (how much are they willing to bet on making the Playoffs in the next two seasons?), what else would they be willing to take on to improve the roster in the short term?

Inevitably that means taking on some big salaried player — whether that is Solomon Hill from the reported Pelicans’ interest in Terrence Ross or a player like Wesley Matthews from the Mavericks.

The Magic, though, are in a position to do this. They are likely looking for young players to grow with their current core. And in a rebuilding state, the Magic are not likely attacking free agency with full gusto quite yet. They can delay their trip into the free agent market for a few more years at least.

These are all part of the team’s considerations as the trade deadline draws closer.

Orlando certainly has players it wants to target and grab. The team will be looking for ways to improve the roster in both the short- and long-term as the Playoffs remain in reach.

Who that player is will not be particularly clear at this point. What it will take to get that player is becoming a little clearer.

For the Magic to get what they want out of this trade deadline — even if they trade Vucevic or Ross — they will have to be willing to take on some big salaries and the accompanying cap hit. This will be the cost of doing business.

The Magic have three weeks before the trade deadline. A lot can happen and a lot can change. New teams will decide to sell and enter new players into the market. The Magic may very well change their posture several times before then.

But what they can acquire and what they must do to acquire what they want are becoming clearer.