The Orlando Magic are shaking off their slow start to the season and moving back up the Eastern Conference standings. Cole Anthony, traded this summer after five seasons with the Magic, is doing the opposite: things continue to get worse as his career nears life support.
The Magic saw an opportunity this summer to take a big swing. They were ascending toward true playoff contention and wanted to address their biggest need: 3-point shooting. That turned into a costly trade for Desmond Bane, sending out four first-round picks plus matching salary.
That matching salary included Cole Anthony, the team's Sixth Man for years, a player they drafted themselves with the 15th pick of the 2020 NBA Draft. While taking Anthony over Tyrese Maxey (21st pick in 2020) is painful, Anthony carved out a solid career through five seasons in Orlando but never broke through into being a positive starter. It was not a surprise to see him included.
At that point, however, Anthony made a curious decision. Rather than remain with the Memphis Grizzlies, he agreed to a buyout and signed on a minimum deal with the Milwaukee Bucks. The risk is that once he placed himself into the bracket of minimum players, he would never again climb into the ranks of well-compensated locked-in rotation players. But the idea for Anthony was almost certainly that there would be more playing time on the Bucks after they lost Damian Lillard for the season.
Cole Anthony is spiraling
Things have not worked out that way for Anthony. The Bucks have seen Ryan Rollins break out into a full-time starter, and other players like AJ Green and Kevin Porter Jr. have earned significant roles. In Memphis, meanwhile, myriad guard injuries would have opened up real opportunities for Anthony to show his mettle.
Anthony has had a consistent role off the bench for the Bucks, averaging 18.8 minutes per game and playing in 18 of the team's 19 games to start the season. The greater problem is that he has been an abject disaster when he has stepped onto the court. If you take a gamble and sign a minimum contract and then play worse than replacement level, suddenly the trapdoor opens beneath your career.
The base stats do a solid enough job of illustrating the problem: a career-worst 8.3 points per game, and a 3-point shot that has frozen during his move to Milwaukee. Anthony is hitting just 25.5 percent of his 2.6 3-pointers per game; his 0.7 makes per game marks the only time in his career he has made fewer than a triple per game. He has never been a sniper, but on a Bucks team that generates a strong number of open triples, he has to do better than Giannis Antetokounmpo would.
The advanced stats paint an even scarier picture, however. Among all 225 players who have played at least 300 minutes this season, Cole Anthony ranks 223rd in ESPN's Net Points per 100 possessions statistic. Thus far this year, in essence, Anthony has cost his team 5.7 points every 100 possessions, which is roughly an average game. That's a disastrous stat.
There aren't any advanced stats that tell a different story, either. Anthony has been terrible for the Bucks from every angle.
Orlando has to be thankful that they moved on from Anthony at the right time. But it's still hard to see a longtime Magic player fall flat on his face like this. If he cannot turn things around soon, his career may be in jeopardy as earlier as next summer.