Orlando Magic need to start fishing for point guard help

One thing that has become apparent to the Orlando Magic early in the season is the lack of depth in their backcourt.

In theory, the rotation of Markelle Fultz, Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, R.J. Hampton and Gary Harris is an enviable amount of talent to work with. But the reality has been much different.

Fultz and Harris have not played yet through injury. Fultz is recovering from a fractured toe and is just getting back on the court as he awaits final clearance to ramp up his rehab. Harris has been out with a torn meniscus and has only recently started playing 5-on-5 with coaches again.

Anthony is currently out himself with an oblique issue. Hampton is never certain to even get game time from head coach Jamahl Mosley on any given night, leaving Suggs as the sole reliable option among the guards on this roster. A remarkable turnaround for a player who had a tough first season in the league.

With rookie standout Paolo Banchero also having missed the last three games through injury, the Magic may need to look at different ways to remain competitive over the course of the season.

Monday night’s home loss to the Charlotte Hornets highlighted this, with the group looking lethargic for large parts of the game having won the previous two contests.

One thing is abundantly clear: The Magic need some guard help.

The Orlando Magic have been inconsistent to say the least and their lack of reliable guard play has been a big reason why. It might be time to start fishing for some help.

The Magic certainly are waiting to see what they look like with increased health. Fultz will be back at some point — he estimates within the next month. Anthony is expected to return around the same time around Thanksgiving (that is next week, by the way) and early December.

Relief may be on the way. But there is no reason the Magic should wait. They should be looking for every way they can improve the team. It is not only to preserve any fleeting Play-In Tournament hopes (the Magic are still 2.5 games back of that spot, but it is looking like a .500 record will be needed to make the field) but to help these young players grow.

The rumor mill is already churning and the Magic should be exploring these opportunities.

We namecheck Chicago Bulls guard Coby White especially because Michael Scotto of Hoopshype recently claimed that he is currently a trade candidate from the Chicago Bulls.

White is not exactly the kind of player who can move the needle. There is a reason he is on the block.

He has career averages of 13.5 points and 3.4 assists on 36.3-percent shooting from 3-point range. But if you look closer, could this be the type of move that makes sense for the Magic?

White is only 22 years old, so is very much on the same timeline as this Magic roster. Terrence Ross is the old head here at 31, and around him, all of Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Markelle Fultz, Bol Bol, Wendell Carter, Chuma Okeke, Jonathan Isaac and Mo Bamba are all 24-years-old or younger.

So if White was available and the price was right, would it not make sense for the Magic to see if he could be anything next to the group they have in place? After all, Banchero and Wagner can make pretty much any guard look good with their offensive arsenals. There are ample young bigs for White to play with and Fultz will be the lead ball-handler once he returns from injury anyway.

The Magic could buy low on White, and see if anything materializes.

This is where we return to price, but the Bulls have to be aware that the market for White is low.

In his fourth year, the former seventh-overall pick has never done anything to make the Bulls believe he could be a long-term solution as their point guard. They went out and got Lonzo Ball for that, and one day he will be healthy enough to play again. One day.

So what if the Magic offered a pair of second-round picks? Even that might be too much, because White failed to reach an agreement with the Bulls on a contract extension this year. This means he would be a restricted free agent next summer if the Magic were to acquire him, so giving up two second-rounders for a player they may let walk for nothing if it does not work out would not be good business.

What about a straight-up swap between Hampton and White then?

Ironically Hampton is the one guard who is proving he can stay healthy, so that does not really help the Magic. But coach Jamahl Mosley still seems wary to give him a bigger role. With Hampton an unrestricted free agent next summer himself, could this be a low-risk, potentially high-reward move for both organizations?

It is worth inquiring on that basis alone, to see if the Bulls would interact.

It speaks volumes that trading Bamba for White would make no sense at this point, despite him being third in the pecking order of bigs behind Carter and Bol. Bamba is quietly having his most consistent season yet. Already his value has increased again because of this.

There is also every chance that the Bulls will not want to get burned by the Magic again. They may well be cautious going into any deal with Jeff Weltman and the Magic after the Nikola Vucevic trade sent the Magic Wendell Carter, Franz Wagner and their upcoming 2023 first-round pick (top-four protected).

But even if White is not the answer, and there are not going to be any Magic fans shouting for this deal to get done, it at least allows us to broach the topic of finding players for the backcourt.

As the season progresses more players in White’s position are going to become available. Guys who the Magic can buy low on, as they did with Hampton, to see if they can turn into anything real.

Backcourt problems have dogged the franchise for years, while it always seems like they have an abundance of bigs to move in and out of the rotation.

Suggs and Anthony were meant to reverse this trend. So too was Fultz’s introduction. But until the Magic can rely on all of these guys consistently, talk of role players like White joining should not be scoffed at, but instead taken seriously.