4 Magic players who improved their trade value in 2023
By Luke Duffy
4 Orlando Magic players who improved their trade value
3. Bol Bol
No player on the Orlando Magic’s roster saw their value around the league jump more than that of center Bol Bol. Hard as it may be to remember after how the season ended, it started with a bang for the big man.
At the beginning of the campaign, when injuries decimated the rotation and the Magic went 5-20, it was Bol who was holding it down and doing some things we never thought possible.
He may have ended the season with averages of 9.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting an ugly 26.5 percent from 3-point range, but we know now that Bol is capable of more than that.
In November, he put up 14.2 points and 8.3 rebounds, while shooting a ridiculous 44.4 percent from beyond the arc. In that moment, Bol was everything the franchise needed him to be.
We know now he is an awful defensive player, and that any team that uses him is going to be limited on that end with what they can do. A player like Joel Embiid for example would flatten Bol Bol if you put him at center just like many perimeter players blew by him or beat him on relocations for 3-pointers.
The Magic got Bol in a trade with the Boston Celtics which received absolutely no fanfare, and he now has legitimate value around the league. That is a real home run move.
Bol’s deal for next season is not even guaranteed.
But when given the chance, he created intrigue throughout the NBA because of all that he could do at his size. His trade value rightly skyrocketed from zero to where it is now as a result.