How every NBA trade deadline deal affects the Orlando Magic
The Kyrie Irving trade
The trade deadline got off to a wild start last Friday when Kyrie Irving formally requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets, ending a tumultuous tenure both on and off the court for one of the league’s special ball handlers and players but one of its most divisive and quizzical players off it.
Irving certainly needed a fresh start. But everyone around the league is wondering two things out of this deal:
First, whether Irving can fit in alongside Luka Doncic to lift the Dallas Mavericks and essentially save their season. And second, whether Irving will implode another team as he did in Cleveland and Boston before he got to Brooklyn.
Despite Irving’s talent and skill, there were probably not a lot of teams lining up to get Irving.
This deal does not have much to do with the Orlando Magic unless you believe in conspiracy theories, which since we are talking about Irving, we might as well dive into.
The Magic are one of the few teams with cap room this offseason, but they would not have enough cap room to sign Irving at the salary he is likely seeking. Not without some extreme maneuvering. Supposedly Irving going to Dallas is a sign the Mavericks are willing to give him the salary he is looking for and retain him using Bird Rights.
Orlando likely is not the kind of team Irving was looking to go to in free agency just as the Magic are not likely a team or culture that could absorb Irving’s special brand of chaos.
For the conspiracy-minded then, this seems to be a situation to watch because Irving has had such a history of blowing up the franchises he has been with and leaving them out to dry unless they act quickly. And the Mavericks became a team desperate enough to need Irving to help them return to the Western Conference Finals this year (they probably will not, but this at least gets them back in the conversation to advance in the Playoffs).
The joke among Magic fans has been that, eventually, Luka Doncic will find his way back to playing with his friend and coach Jamahl Mosley. If Doncic ever did ask out of Dallas, that certainly seems like a possibility. But that is probably still down the road. . . unless things really blow up.
Doncic has a player option for the 2027 season. So there is still some waiting to do before the Mavericks really start to freak out.