4 Magic players who improved their trade value in 2023

The Orlando Magic’s 2023 season was one to remember, thanks to the stellar play of some young players and a prolonged chase for a Play-In spot.

That venture may have come up short. But there is little doubt that this is an organization that is trending in the right direction.

Plenty went right for the group, and while it was not all plain sailing, fans will have seen enough to know that making the postseason next year is a real possibility.

The next stage for the Magic though is one that is a bit more fraught. There will be trades to consider as the team plans its next moves and how they get to that next level into the postseason.

And the success the Magic had this year will almost certainly make the players on this team more attractive looking ahead to the offseason.

The Orlando Magic’s successful season and bright future will undoubtedly make several of their players more valuable on the trade market as the Magic now plot their next step.

Thankfully for the Magic, there were a whole host of players who saw their worth jump significantly from the beginning of the season, to the end.

This is great news for the franchise, as they enter into an important offseason where all manner of trade and free agent options will be on the table.

This team is going to look different come opening night next year, so let us examine four individuals who really improved their standing league wide thanks to some much improved play.

4 Orlando Magic players who improved their trade value

4. Gary Harris

Perhaps no player on this Orlando Magic roster did a better job of preparing themselves for a future away from the franchise than Gary “Gary Harris” Harris in 2023.

That is not to say the organization should want to get rid of him, because when healthy he solved a problem for the team by starting as their 2-guard. The one position that the Magic still lack clarity on.

Harris attempted 4.5 shots from deep each night, and was a scorching 43.1 percent (a career high) on these efforts. He started 42 of the 48 games he appeared in, and was just as comfortable beginning a game as he was coming off the bench.

How Harris really improved his standing around the league last season is twofold. On the court, he slotted into the role once occupied by Terrence Ross seamlessly for the Magic.

Ross ended up joining the Phoenix Suns after being bought out, and Harris would easily have the same impact on a contender. A whole host of current playoff teams could do with him right now.

What also helps his cause is the fact Harris is entering the final year of his current deal. He is an expiring contract making an extremely reasonable $13 million next season.

The Magic may well end up bringing him back once that deal is up, but it speaks volumes that Harris is no longer an afterthought in the league, and has seriously rehabilitated his value with some solid play.

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.

4 Orlando Magic players who improved their trade value

2. Markelle Fultz

As discussed here recently, Markelle Fultz had the best season of his career so far with the Orlando Magic. The organization was crying out for a point guard of the future, and Fultz answered the call.

Still only 24 years old, and after four years with the team, Fultz now has far and away more value around the league than former teammate Ben Simmons. A sentence we never thought we’d hear.

There were career highs for Fultz across the board in 2023, but looking at the bigger picture, you can now definitely see other franchises who would love to have him running their team.

When you consider what the value of Fultz was, at its absolute worst, on a par with Bol Bol’s, it is clear just how far he has come. Even better, this value looks like it is only going to continue to improve.

Fultz is not yet a good 3-point shooter, but the jump shots and free throw percentages continue to get better. On top of that, defensively as an on ball terror he is annoying for elite guards to play against.

Doing it on both ends as Fultz continues to do is what is going to help the Magic get to the next level, and it is these qualities that improved his stock around the league in 2022/23 as well.

The fact he is the perfect point guard next to Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter makes it all the better. The Magic front office looking better every day for having traded for Fultz.

4 Orlando Magic players who improved their trade value

1. Franz Wagner

It takes a lot to top a list featuring Bol Bol and Markelle Fultz because of how far they came last season. But Franz Wagner deserves to take top spot. He is everything the Magic could possibly want and more.

Already he has accepted his role as the second offensive option on this team behind Paolo Banchero, despite being arguably the best second year player in the entire NBA last season.

If you were to do a list featuring all of the top draft assets in the league, Wagner would certainly crack the top 50, and may even get a chance to break into the top 30.

His offensive game is, in a word, wonderful. While defensively, he is already at a higher level than he is being given credit for.

If all of the Magic’s cards were on the table, every organization in the league would call to enquire about Wagner. At 21 years old, he already looks like he could thrive anywhere in the NBA.

Fortunately for the Magic, they do not have to think about moving Wagner for a long time. And they will be quietly confident that his value will continue heading north for the foreseeable future.

Contenders today are built around elite scoring wings, and Wagner has a chance to reach that level quickly.

The fact he also looks like a serious defensive contributor and is capable of carrying the Magic already if called upon is why he tops this list.