7 players the Orlando Magic gave up on too soon

Like every organization in the NBA, the Orlando Magic have often traded for the wrong players at the wrong time, or selected players in the draft that did not fit with their team.

Worse yet, there are those players who the organization felt the need to cut ties with too soon before watching them reach their full potential elsewhere.

We see this happen year after year, with the Orlando Magic actually benefitting from this in recent times, having stolen Markelle Fultz from the Philadephia 76ers and watched him turn into a key player.

For every Markelle Fultz however, the Orlando Magic have allowed many players that they should have kept from leaving for newer pastures.

Here we examine seven such examples, with each player mentioned either going on to have a lot of success elsewhere or in some cases was let go at the wrong time for the franchise.

Losing somebody who goes on to be a star elsewhere always hurts, but situation plays a part in that.

Equally as bad is watching a player leave, only to follow that departure up with subsequent wrong moves to set the organization back years. Settle in for a bumpy ride.

7 players the Orlando Magic gave up on too soon

7. Chauncey Billups

A bizarre place to start, as Chauncey Billups never played a single game for the Orlando Magic. Still, he has the noteworthy distinction of appearing in the season-ending photo for the franchise in 2000.

Billups is probably the biggest miss on this entire list, and the timing at which he joined the Orlando Magic from the Denver Nuggets in 2000 is what led to the unfortunate circumstances that followed.

When traded to the Magic, Billups had a shoulder injury and was on his fourth team in four years.

In other words, he was essentially a draft bust, and this was his last chance to stick in the league. The Orlando Magic let him walk in free agency to the Minnesota Timberwolves before ever playing, and the rest is history.

It is incredible to think that this player would go on to win a championship with the Detroit Pistons only four years later, and was named Finals MVP in the process.

A five-time All-Star, the second act of his career may see him make the Hall of Fame one day. The Magic were the unlucky ones to catch him just before the script flipped on his career.

At that point in the Magic’s history, they had a young roster designed to clear cap room so they could chase Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill (and Tim Duncan) in the summer of 2000. Billups was extra cap room they could cut for that big free agent summer. The team drafted Mike Miller was soon after Chauncey Billups left, and they went 43-39 in 2001.

Had Billups figured it out with the Magic, it would have softened the blow of watching Grant Hill always miss time through injury — not to mention trading Ben Wallace in the sign-and-trade to acquire Hill. The organization would have remained competitive as well.

This would have led to some notable free agents wanting to join (Tim Duncan strongly considered it anyway in 2000), but on the flipside the Magic likely would never have been bad enough to draft Dwight Howard first overall in 2004.

7 players the Orlando Magic gave up on too soon

6. Dewayne Dedmon

Center Dewayne Dedmon is some comedown from the All-Star level talent of Chauncey Billups, but stick with us here while we try to break this one down.

Dedmon was with the Orlando Magic for three seasons, and in that time only started 41 out of the 133 games played. He averaged four points and 4.5 rebounds in less than 14 minutes of action.

A role player if ever there was one, and at 33 years old he has had a journeyman career in the league.

Alongside other backup bigs of the time like Kyle O’Quinn, Dewayne Dedmon had a few fans because of how hard he played, but mostly came and went without much fanfare.

Mere months after Dewayne Dedmon left, however, the Magic traded for Serge Ibaka. A disastrous move that took years to come back from.

You will argue the Ibaka move would have happened anyway, and you would be right. The Magic then doubled down on this logic however, and went out and got Bismack Biyombo that summer.

The four-year, $72-million deal given to him felt bad in the moment, and it has aged horribly. It became apparent immediately that the trio of Serge Ibaka, Bismack Biyombo and Nikola Vucevic was never going to work.

So the Magic letting Dedmon go did not mean much for what happened on the court.

But had he been allowed at 26 to be a backup to Vucevic, the Magic could have avoided a big man logjam, and spent money on different and better players during their rebuild.

7 players the Orlando Magic gave up on too soon

5. Aaron Gordon

The first truly contentious choice on this list arrives in the form of Aaron Gordon. A polarizing figure during his time with the Orlando Magic, he has carved out the perfect role for himself with the Denver Nuggets.

But could it be that Gordon could have found that same role with the Magic?

Consider this, the Magic won both the Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier trades that helped them to kickstart their rebuild.

The Gordon to the Nuggets trade is trickier, as R.J. Hampton is no longer on the roster and Gary Harris, for how important he is becoming to the Magic, shares similar skills to Terrence Ross.

Imagine if the Magic had added Wendell Carter from the Chicago Bulls through the Nikola Vucevic trade, and still drafted Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero.

We’re playing “what if” here, but with Gordon still on the roster that is not inconceivable. He is not a floor raiser, we know that now.

Alongside Carter, Wagner and Banchero, Gordon would have been an excellent defensive player who would have made the Magic even better this season and beyond.

Too much was expected of Gordon at a time when the Magic simply were not very good. He was viewed as the next Blake Griffin type when really he excels as a defender around high-level players.

The 2023 Magic would have been much better suited to Gordon, and although most fans were not sad to see the back of him, there is a world where he was part of what they’ve got cooking now.

7 players the Orlando Magic gave up on too soon

4. DeShawn Stevenson

One of the best examples of players the Orlando Magic gave up on too soon, DeShawn Stevenson was the right player who was on the roster just before he was truly required.

Stevenson played 163 games for the Magic, and after two seasons opted to forgo the final year of his deal to sign for the Washington Wizards. He was 24 years old at the time.

This was 2006, and only three years later the Magic would be losing in the NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Adding another layer here, Stevenson himself would go on to be an underrated defensive cog for the Dallas Mavericks, as they got over the hump in 2011 by beating the Miami Heat.

Were the Magic one player short in 2009, and was that player Stevenson? He was not quite what he would be in 2011, but there is no doubt he would have helped slow down Kobe Bryant.

If you take a look at his career earnings, there is little doubt the Magic could have afforded to keep him around to allow him to morph into the defensive difference-maker he would go on to become.

It is strange that the front office didn’t recognize what they had in Stevenson at the time.

Perhaps there were issues behind the scenes that would have made his departure inevitable. But the Magic were heading towards contention when he left, and Stevenson 100% would have helped.

7 players the Orlando Magic gave up on too soon

3. Ben Wallace

Ben Wallace is the second Detroit Piston to appear on this list, although, unlike eventual teammate Chauncey Billups, he did suit up for the Orlando Magic.

During his 81 games with the team, Wallace more closely resembled the likes of Dewayne Dedmon and Kyle O’Quinn. There was little belief he could go on to have the Hall-of-Fame career that he did.

Again had he stayed put, the organization likely never gets Dwight Howard. But in that reality, they would not have known any better anyway.

To have had the chance to pair Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups with Tracy McGrady (for a stretch), Mike Miller and whatever else would have come their way, would have been interesting indeed. It would have certainly saved some heartbreak in the 2003 Playoffs.

We cannot just say the Magic would have become the Pistons of that era who were Eastern Conference finals regulars.

But they certainly would have had some more postseason success themselves.

Wallace would go on to be a four-time All-Star after leaving town and is as beloved in Detroit as just about any former champion is by that fanbase.

With the Magic having never won it all, and with a difficult history with Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal ensuring there will always be baggage there, the perfect hero was staring them right in the face.

Only they never realized what they had, with Wallace going on to play for 11 more seasons after departing the Magic.

7 players the Orlando Magic gave up on too soon

2. Victor Oladipo

This one only hurts more as time goes on, and untangling the mess that it was before Victor Oladipo’s departure is a tricky one.

Picked second overall in 2013 (the highest selection the Magic would ever have in the post-Dwight Howard rebuild era), Oladipo was seen as a player who could one day be a superstar.

It is unfortunate both that the Magic got their highest pick from that era in a particularly weak draft, and that Oladipo would go on to be the best version of himself elsewhere.

You are kidding yourself if you think you were not happy to see him get traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in that horror show Serge Ibaka deal, but that is not the point of this exercise.

Even with the injuries that would surely have come anyway, the best of Oladipo was close to happening in Orlando until the Magic decided to trade him away.

He did become a multiple-time All-Star, and he did transform into one of the 20 best players in the NBA while with the Indiana Pacers.

He helped another small market in the Pacers become a national story while he was at his peak.

So yes, the Magic gave up on his talents too soon. Getting Ibaka back makes this even worse, but really it is the revisionist history on Oladipo’s time with the Magic that grates.

He wasn’t working out as the number one option, although having the likes of Elfrid Payton and Mario Hezonja trying to help wasn’t ideal.

7 players the Orlando Magic gave up on too soon

1. Domantas Sabonis

The second player to appear on this list who never even suited up for the organization is a worrying trend, and this was an even worse slip-up than letting Chauncey Billups go.

Domantas Sabonis was drafted by the Orlando Magic, and swiftly moved alongside Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Serge Ibaka trade.

If we are giving the front office of that time any leeway at all here, it is that players get selected and traded all of the time without ever playing for the team who picks them.

Sabonis, despite having a famous father who played in the league, was not seen as a surefire thing at all.

Unfortunately for the Magic, however, when these players you pass on hit big, it makes it all the worse.

Domantas Sabonis was already a two-time All-Star (the same amount as franchise legend Nikola Vucevic for those keeping count) while with the Indiana Pacers, and added a third this year with the Sacramento Kings.

It is with the Kings where Sabonis has transformed the fortunes of a franchise alongside De’Aaron Fox, and at only 26 he has the potential to get even better as time goes on.

What hurts the most here is that Sabonis could have been the natural successor to Vucevic, raised their ceiling in the process, and even done a passable impression of Nikola Jokic from time to time.

The greatest compliment you can give him is that he was traded for Tyrese Haliburton and it does not feel like the Kings lost that trade.

Sabonis would have been an exceptional long-term player, both in the last version of this roster and the current one. It is a shame fans never got a chance to see that for even one game.