3 things we learned about the Orlando Magic at the deadline
By Luke Duffy
The NBA’s trade deadline has now officially ended, meaning both Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania can get some much needed sleep.
The Orlando Magic were relatively quiet as the league collectively lost its mind, despite fans clamoring for the organization to do something, anything . . . seemingly just for the sake of doing it.
In the end the only movement of note was the shipping of center Mo Bamba to the Los Angeles Lakers. A move that surprised some, but that Bamba himself will hope can kickstart his career after four-and-a-half seasons with the Magic.
The Magic got Patrick Beverley, a second-round pick and some cash to make up the difference between Bamba and Beverley’s salary for their trouble. It felt like a pure salary dump.
Despite being on the periphery of the big deals, we actually found out a lot about where the Orlando Magic are at as they look to close out this regular season strongly.
It goes far beyond the puzzling acquisition of Beverley in that Bamba deal as well, and he has not even been asked to report to Orlando by the front office.
Let’s take a look at the three big takeaways for the franchise, and what it will mean for them in their quest for a play-in spot, as well as the offseason when many believe they are likely to make a bigger splash.