5 potential free agent targets with ties to Orlando Magic

5 potential free agent targets with ties to Orlando Magic

1. Kyrie Irving

The loosest link of them all is also the player who brings with him the most risk.

Kyrie Irving is currently with the Dallas Mavericks, where the aforementioned ties between Luka Doncic and coach Jamahl Mosley have already been established. Doncic would want to have spoken glowingly about Mosley for Irving to even consider this. And the Magic would have to dump some players to get the cap room necessary to sign Irving.

But he tops this list because we all know at this stage that Irving never follows the path that most expect him to. Once he joined the Mavericks, they slid so far down the standings that they didn’t even make the Play-in tournament. That is not all on Irving, who had some stellar games for the team.

Rather it was as a result of losing some of the scarce depth the Dallas Mavericks were already operating with in pursuit of acquiring him from the Brooklyn Nets. It would be foolish of owner Mark Cuban to now let Kyrie Irving walk this summer, having given up Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and future draft picks. It makes more sense to protect the asset by signing Irving up to another deal.

But if he wants a ton of money, and if the Mavericks already feel like his presence is alienating Doncic, then anything could happen.

We have been here before with Irving — many, many times — but the Magic could talk themselves into a transcendent offensive player who would immediately make them above-average on that end.

His impact on Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner could be hugely detrimental, but it may be that the rapidly improving situation for the Magic could appeal to Kyrie Irving. Unlike the Mavericks, they do not seem like a panicked and potentially sinking ship at this moment in time.

This is the player who once said he would sign the mid-level exception to play with the Lakers. There was probably a time they would have loved to have him too, but not now. They are a final-four team as constructed. If not the Mavericks, then Irving is fast running out of options in the league, and whether through free agency or sign and trade, anything could happen this summer.