Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag Volume 33: It’s delicate

The Orlando Magic’s trade deadline strategy is still one of the more intriguing and interesting storylines of the season.

Orlando is desperate to make the Playoffs, even in their rebuild state. The franchise wants to deliver meaningful basketball to its fans after six years lost in the desert. The Eastern Conference is helping them deliver. But for the first time in a long time, Orlando has something to play for as the trade deadline approaches.

The Magic are rebuilding and they are keeping an eye on the long-term development for the team. But they absolutely need to add something to the team to make a Playoff push.

The Dennis Smith rumors will not be the last time we hear Orlando involved in a major rumor. Teams know of the Magic’s desperation — especially for a point guard — and will look to take advantage to try to pry a valuable support player like Terrence Ross away.

Whether the Magic are buying or selling at the deadline is dependent on just what the Magic are willing to give up. And just how much they think their team will improve over what they give up.

Orlando probably wants to get better. But it will be tough to do that trading Nikola Vucevic. Teams are not going to give up a ton of value for a player on an expiring contract like him.

And trading Vucevic short of a proven All-Star is going to make the team worse — or, at a minimum, reconfigure how the team plays on the fly.

Terrence Ross is going to get a lot of inquiries at the deadline. He is probably the team’s biggest trade asset right now. But again, dealing him would probably make the team much worse.

A deal like the Smith deal with the Dallas Mavericks is probably the best framework for a potential deal that makes the Magic better. Trading for Dennis Smith along with a big contract like Wesley Matthews for Evan Fournier and Jonathon Simmons (and probably a first-round pick) makes some sense. That might be the framework for the Magic trying to “buy” at the trade deadline.

But how many teams are willing to take on Evan Fournier and the two years, $34 million left on his deal? Especially for a young player like Smith that helps the Magic not only in the present but for the future.

And is Orlando, even with protections, willing to part with their first-round pick. The Magic cannot feel too comfortable that they are a sustainable Playoff team quite yet. Trading their pick is extremely risky.

It is for these reasons that I am still fairly skeptical the Magic will be able to accomplish their goals at the trade deadline. I think Orlando is likely going to have to work a bit more on the fringes. I see them being aggressive, but still cautious. And so I do not think they are quite going to be buyers.

Unless they put Ross firmly on the table, they will have difficulty making a clear deal. And in either case, I am convinced they will have to be willing to take on some big salaries and sacrifice some financial flexibility to get something done at the deadline.

Thanks everyone for the questions. I appreciate all the interactions. We will be sure to do another mailbag soon. Until then, you can always stay in touch with the site on Twitter @omagicdaily or drop us a line by e-mail at omagicdaily@gmail.com.