The Orlando Magic jumped the gun this offseason when they acquired Desmond Bane from the Memphis Grizzlies. The price tag of four first-round picks, a pick swap and two rotation players -- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony -- was indeed steep.
That had everyone afraid it would set the market for future trades and the big domino everyone expected to fall.
The past week has been spent speculating where Kevin Durant would land with seemingly new information from Durant's camp or the Phoenix Suns trickling out about where he would end up.
As is always the case, the Miami Heat are the boogeymen always lurking for big-name players. Everyone seems to want to play for them, and the Heat constantly keep themselves in the background conversation for any star that enters the market.
They have enough talent to make the Playoffs -- they did so this year as the 10-seed before a five-game series loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. They are hunting for the star.
Durant will not be that piece. And the Magic -- and the rest of the Eastern Conference -- can breathe a sigh of relief.
Shams Charania of ESPN reports the Phoenix Suns will trade Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the 2025 Draft and five second-round picks.
That is not quite the haul the Grizzlies got for Bane. But each player has their own market. Each trade partner wants their own thing. And the Suns were ready to move on from Durant and seemingly wanted talent to add to their roster instead of recouping some of their own picks that the Rockets own.
While this trade greatly affects the 2026 first-round pick the Magic gave to the Grizzlies -- the pick is subjected to a pick swap with the Suns and was considered the most valuable pick the Magic gave away -- the Magic already knew they were giving away that piece in the trade anyway. The Durant trade was inevitable and the Magic gave up what they had to believe was a likely Lottery pick.
That was factored into the cost of the Bane trade to begin with. The Magic seem more focused on building a win-now team and are focused on their short-term prospects.
With the Heat in the Durant running, they certainly had plenty to say about the Magic's acquisition of Bane and what it said about the two franchises.
Instead, Orlando is breathing a sigh of relief that Durant remains out West and stays out of the hands of their chief rival.
Miami more desperate to make a move than Orlando
While the Miami Heat struggled last year to a 37-45 record, the team still has all the advantages of the Miami franchise, along with All-Star-level players in Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
The Miami Heat may not have the top-end scoring that the Orlando Magic have in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, but they have a lot of role players and know-how to be factors even with a lower talent base. A player like Kevin Durant would have elevated them further and made them a threat to compete with the Magic for the Southeast Division, let alone a top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Miami will surely adjust and make another splashy move to try to cling to contention hopes -- believing that "Heat Culture" can carry them past any talent deficits. Pat Riley knows more than anyone how much star power wins in this league, even as his team continually strikes out on these big names.
The Magic were always focused on themselves rather than what everyone else was doing.
The Magic made their big trade last week to vault them into title contention. They also made it understanding that standing still was not going to do that job either. Other teams were going to make moves. And even after acquiring Bane, the Magic had to fear the potential aggression of teams like the Heat.
But with Durant out of the picture and staying out West, it is hard to see any team in the Eastern Conference's playoff picture improving as much as the Magic seemed to have improved this offseason.
Who else in the East is set to improve?
No other team in the East has major cap room -- the Detroit Pistons will likely use much of their cap room to retain players like Malik Beasley this offseason.
Orlando has taken the most serious step toward joining the contenders. And everyone around the league knows the Magic are better than their 41-41 record brought on by the injuries. The Magic did not sacrifice their defense to improve their offense (at least on paper).
Orlando should feel that it has gotten the tools to take that major step. The team should now look around at its competition and realize that their competition are not set up to take a similar step.
And now the Durant door is closed to their chief rival.