When the Orlando Magic drafted Aaron Gordon with the fourth pick in the 2014 Draft, the organization considered the Arizona Wildcats product raw in many areas of the game but uniquely gifted athletically. Orlando was willing to wait on him, develop him and see what kind of player Aaron Gordon would become.
Gordon went through his share of heartache, suffering through four seasons of futility while showing steady improvements. He began carving out an identity as a freakish defensive specialist with a lot of room to grow offensively.
The Magic faithful saw flashes of what could be here and there. They drooled over the possibilities if Gordon put it all together.
After a strong all-around season in 2019 that helped the Magic make the playoffs — not to mention a solid playoff performance where he averaged 15.2 points per game with a 53.2-percent effective field goal percentage — everyone pegged Gordon as a potential breakout star.
But to this point in the year, Gordon has not put it all together.
The forward is in the midst of a rough campaign offensively, seeing dropoffs in his scoring and shooting. He is still one of Orlando’s best defensive players, to be sure, but he frustratingly remains a question mark on offense. Entering Friday’s game, Gordon is averaging 13.3 points per game on a 46.6-percent effective field goal percentage.
At times, he looks frustrated. Others, he plays within the flow of the offense and maximizes his impact.
Yet he has been unable to string together a meaningful stretch of positive offensive performances this season. It simply has not happened for what is likely a multitude of reasons — Gordon hinted recently at some lingering injury issues but offered no excuses for his poor offensive play.
In the NBA, there are times when things do not work out between a team and a player. For one reason or another, the organization cannot maximize the player’s potential. The main barrier to the player reaching the heights he desires may simply be that things have run their course with a particular organization.
Judging by the course of Gordon’s career, that time may very well be up with the Magic.
Orlando is at or near the bottom of the league in almost every telling advanced or traditional statistical category on offense. If the team opts to trade Gordon, it must acquire a player who can simply put the ball in the basket on a consistent, night-in, night-out basis.
The Magic want to make their playoff push soon. They are already a fairly certain playoff team or near-playoff team. But the team does not want to settle for playoff cameos. To do that, it will take internal development but also some major moves to the roster.
Gordon figures to be central to both paths to improving this roster.
With the trade deadline coming up Feb. 7 and the league’s trade market open, we examine four players who would potentially be involved in an Aaron Gordon swap, how they would help Orlando, and issues those players would bring to the Magic.