Scouting Report: Meet the Orlando Magic’s new acquisitions

The past few months (and perhaps even years) of Orlando Magic news — both locally and nationally — has centered on trade rumors for many of the Magic’s core pieces.

The team had been competing or the playoffs with a group most believed was not good enough to win or compete for a title. Even if the team continued to progress a trade was always going to be necessary.

The question was whether the team would be trying to build up or starting over. Fans for a long time had hinted a full reset would be the way to go if winning a title was the goal — especially with the team sitting in 14th in the East and the fifth-worst record in the league in a loaded draft class.

All eyes were on the Orlando Magic Thursday at the trade deadline. Boy, did they make their opportunity count.

The Orlando Magic completely reshaped their roster in a flurry of deals at the NBA trade deadline. Who they got in return should impact the team now and beyond.

A historic roster overhaul saw some of the Magic’s core contributors and franchise staples in Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier exchanged in quick succession. These transactions netted the Magic a bevy of young players and draft assets not seen since the Dwight Howard trade in 2012, the last time the team restarted.

It is a completely new path and now a completely new roster for this season and beyond.

There will be much discussion among Magic fans as to whether this return was enough for the Magic’s most popular and productive players from the last half-decade. But one thing is for sure: The Magic now have a direction.

This direction will be a youth movement headlined by Johnathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz. Surrounding these two will be players such as Cole Anthony, Chuma Okeke and Mohamed Bamba who should see expanded roles and newfound opportunities to produce in the aftermath of yesterday’s trade bonanza.

How do the new player additions fit into this new age of Magic Basketball? Today, we will evaluate the players acquired in yesterday’s deal and examine their fits on the young Magic.