Three possible Orlando Magic trade scenarios involving Nikola Vucevic
By Dan Bennett
Potential trade 1: Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors find themselves in a unique position where they will likely be challenging at the top of the Western Conference next year but also have the second pick in this year’s draft, with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson soon set to return from near season-long injuries.
This opens up possible trade opportunities for the second pick. The Warriors want to win more titles while Curry and Thompson are still playing and could be targeting the right established players to partner with the splash brothers in order to make that happen.
Golden State does not have much depth at center and Nikola Vucevic’s ability to shoot and stretch the floor would fit in well with Steve Kerr’s system.
The Magic would have to take on Andrew Wiggins’ hefty contract to make it happen, however. The talented wing is set to earn $29.5 million next season which rises by $2 million in both of the two seasons following that.
While Wiggins is a good player and would help address Orlando’s need for more scoring, his giant deal would limit what the team could do during the next few years. It would be a big gamble to hope the draft pick works out and that Wiggins delivers enough to justify his pay.
Currently, his contract probably outweighs his ability.
He averaged an impressive 21.8 points per game last season but is still yet to properly develop other areas of his game such as his defense, where his lapses have meant he is come in for criticism and would not fit well with Steve Clifford’s ideology.
But the true prize in the trade would be the second pick. The Magic could look to bolster their backcourt with an exciting guard like Anthony Edwards or LaMelo Ball, or their frontcourt with James Wiseman or Obi Toppin. This could be the team’s chance to draft a star for the future.
The risk would be considerable, however. There are doubts over this year’s top prospects and the team would really need to be sold on someone to lose their main star in Vucevic.