It was about a year ago that the Orlando Magic made their move.
They shockingly pushed their chips in with an aggressive move to acquire Desmond Bane in mid-June during the NBA Finals. With 28 of the 30 teams already into their offseason and draft workouts already in full swing, the league is already moving on.
Orlando completed the big step of their offseason, officially announcing Sean Sweeney as their new head coach.
While he will remain with the San Antonio Spurs for the NBA Finals, the Orlando Magic probably already have an idea of the kind of players he wants that they might be missing. It is not like the Magic are unaware of their needs.
Shooting remains a huge need for the team to hunt for. Orlando will surely be examining its center rotation from top to bottom, particularly with Moe Wagner set for free agency. And the team could use a point guard.
There are big moves the team could make.
Speculation about the Magic shopping Jalen Suggs and Wendell Carter has been with fans all offseason. The Giannis Antetokounmpo rumors will not go away either.
Orlando likely needs a trade to shake up the rotation. The reality is that free agency is not available to them because they are now over the tax and flirting with the first apron.
Unless they make a move to clear up some cap room -- and significantly clear up cap room -- the Magic will only have a part of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception or the entire taxpayer mid-level exception to spend in free agency. That leaves a contract starting at a little more than $6 million to spend on the market.
All those grand ideas of grabbing Isaiah Hartenstein or Coby White or Ayo Dosunmu probably need to be put to the side. The Magic cannot afford them -- another reason sitting out the trade deadline will backfire on the Magic.
Orlando is scraping the bottom of the barrel. But that does not make it any less important to find players who make sense. Whoever the Magic acquire in free agency will likely be someone to supplement what was lost in a trade.
But the Magic need to be shrewd and precise in who they target at all phases. There is a narrow path to walk.
But who they get could prove a huge difference maker considering how few options the Magic have to them.
What players could they be looking at?
The Familiar Names: Collin Sexton & Anfernee Simons
Orlando Magic fans have been after Collin Sexton and Anfernee Simons for many years at the trade deadline. They both represent things the Magic need -- quasi-point guards who have a knack for scoring the ball. Both players have also made it a point to victimize the Magic.
But neither player has been able to establish themselves on a winning team.
Sexton has moved from team to team putting up solid scoring numbers without making an impact on winning. He averaged 15.4 points per game last year with the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls. He shot 40.1 percent from three.
Even if there are some questions about how he impacts winning -- and the Hornets ultimately chose paying Coby White over paying Collin Sexton at the trade deadline -- it is unquestionable that he would help the team.
The same would be said of Simons.
Simons got his first opportunity to play with a Playoff-level team with the Boston Celtics this year. He averaged 14.2 points per game for them and shot 39.5 percent in his time with the Celtics. He is a volume three-point shooter and the Magic need a player off the bench who can go off for a big scoring burst.
Similar to Sexton, the Celtics felt they needed something else at the deadline and shipped him to Chicago for Nikola Vucevic to bolster their center rotation. Simons did not have a huge impact on the offense or defense, but he did not affect much of either for the entire season.
The Magic have had their opportunities to grab these two players over the year.s There is a reason they did not want to pursue them.
Some of that might have been their salaries. Because both were discarded at the trade deadline, there is a chance they slip through the cracks. Whether they slip far enough to reach $6.1 million is the question.
But at that salary, both of these players suddenly feel like they would impact beyond their salary and be huge bargains. That is kind of what the Magic are looking for.
The Shooters: Kevin Huerter
The Orlando Magic desperately need shooting. That remained one of the big needs in teh aftermath of the Magic's season and even one that president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman acknowledged the team needed most.
Finding volume shooters who can play at a playoff level using only the taxpayer mid-level exception will be tough. There is a reason these players are down at $6.1 million per year. And even that can be a stretch of an investment. There is a little bit of risk involved.
One player who could fall into that range is Kevin Huerter.
Huerter averaged 10.0 points per game and shot a career-worst 30.8 percent from three with the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons. But he is a career 36.8 percent 3-point shooter and has shot better than 35 percent in six of his eight seasons.
The question is whether Huerter can play in the Playoffs. The Pistons did not believe so and relegated him to the bench (he played in five of 14 playoff games). But this is the kind of player who sees his market value crater to the taxpayer mid-level exception.
The Bigs: Robert Williams & Kevon Looney
The Orlando Magic's best trade chip is likely Goga Bitadze and his $8 million salary for next year. The Magic may want to use him to improve their bench shooting and get a higher-priced and more reliable shooter for their bench.
That would leave them exposed at center -- especially with Moe Wagner as a free agent. That could leave them trying to fill in their center position with the mid-level exception. That seems likely and there are more options at this level.
The best option might be taking a chance on Portland Trail Blazers big man Robert Williams.
Williams averaged 6.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in 17.1 minutes per game and 59 games. That was the most games he played since 2022 when he was with the Boston Celtics. Despite the limited scoring, he averaged 1.5 blocks per game nonetheless.
That kind of rim protection is vital and something the Magic are missing. And on the chance Williams can find some health and rhythm again, he could be a huge bargain and difference maker. He is at least looking into.
Kevon Looney would also provide a solid base and a foundational center.
Looney played in only 21 games last year and has never been much for stats. He is simply a big body who can take up space and be in the right spots on defense. He did not suffer any major injury and so he might be out of time in the NBA. He may not even be worth the mid-level exception anymore.
But those are the kinds of players the Magic are hunting for right now.
Their options are simply limited as they attack the free agent market.
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