Three weeks from the trade deadline, everyone has a wish list.
Everyone is starting to try to shop around the league and find the players who can boost their rosters. That is what the playoff teams are doing. And the Orlando Magic are a playoff team.
While president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has mostly nibbled on the edges of the trade deadline in the past and stayed away from transformational trades that fans get excited about, he is entering a new phase as an executive.
He is in a place where he is looking to shore up his team for a championship run. If not this year, then in the very near future.
The Magic may not be where they hoped to be in the standings as they near the midpoint of the season and the trade deadline ahead, but they still believe they can climb the standings. They may still be looking for that last piece.
But Weltman is in a bit of a dilemma. He is facing a different question than most contenders.
The Magic are a contending team that is looking both to buy and sell. That is a difficult path to walk.
That makes success at the trade deadline difficult to achieve. Orlando has to accomplish two goals and have little avenue to get both done. It may come down to one or the other.
And it may be impossible to do both. And prudent to the do the less exciting thing: Cutting payroll to get under the luxury tax.
The luxury tax problem
The Orlando Magic's move to acquire Desmond Bane this summer was a last-chance effort to add a big salary before all the big extensions they signed to the team's core players kicked in. He had to plan for Paolo Banchero's max extension and now a likely greater extension for Anthony Black.
The Magic are set to become a first apron team next year. They are currently slated to pay the tax for the first time since 2012 this year.
Because Orlando knows it will be over the tax for the foreseeable future, the team should be doing everything it can to dip below the tax. That seems like an achievable goal.
At just approximately $5.6 million above the luxury tax line, everyone seems to acknowledge the Magic's primary goal at this year's trade deadline is to get under the tax and avoid starting their repeater clock.
Teams that are over the tax for three out of any four years, pay an elevated tax rate on the amount over the luxury tax line they are. Since Orlando knows it will be over the tax line for the foreseeable future, avoiding those penalties is just good business sense.
How do you shed that $5.6 million though?
Jett Howard's $5.5 million is approximately $50,000 less than what the Magic would need to clear. Declining his fourth-year player option was seemingly the first cap casualty of the Magic's new era.
The main candidates the Magic are likely looking to move are Tyus Jones, Jonathan Isaac and Goga Bitadze. Each make well more than the amount they need to shed. It is just unclear what the team could get in return and whether that would improve this team enough.
They may just do a straight salary dump.
Jake Fischer reported on the Stein Line that the Magic have surveyed the league about swapping Tyus Jones for second-round draft capital. That would not bring the Magic the return they would hope for. But it would accomplish the goal of getting under the tax.
It would be hard to imagine finding a quality player for $1.4 million. That is a problem with the available players to move on the roster, it would seem.
The same could be said for Bitadze.
Bitadze makes $8.3 million this year and declines to $7.6 million next year. He is a solid contributor in the Magic's rotation and would be difficult to replace -- especially with a player making only $2.8 million to fit under the tax.
Orlando's best bet is to try to shop Jonathan Isaac and his $15 million salary. That gives them the ability to acquire a player with a contract up to $9.4 million.
But with Isaac's struggles, it is hard to imagine the Magic getting much for Isaac -- not without giving up something in addition. And the Magic have limited draft capital to spend.
All the Magic may be able to do at this deadline is dump Jones into someone's empty cap space for a few low-value draft picks and move on.
Everything for the Magic circles around this problem.
How do you buy?
But the Orlando Magic are not in a position to simply cut salary and call it a day. The team still needs to address some critical needs.
They desperately need more shooting. They have struggled with rebounding and could use some improvement on the glass. They could use more attackers and creators off the dribble.
This is not a championship team quite yet. Some of that is about development at the top -- and certainly abot injuries. But the Magic have tweaks to make.
Jeff Weltman tends to operate quietly. So there are not many rumors available out there.
Marc Stein of The Stein Line previously reported thata player like Daniel Gafford has gained some interest from Eastern Conference teams, including the Orlando Magic. But the Mavericks' main goal is to cut their tax bill too. They are not looking to add salary either.
Gafford makes $14.4 million this year, with three more years starting at $17.3 million beginning next year.
It is easy to see how difficult it would be to add someone new to the roster who would be in the rotation and bring value. Not without taking some risk on a lower-salaried player -- someone like Sacramento Kings guard Keon Ellis, who is owed $2.3 million.
That might be where the Magic are fishing and looking to improve the roster. They do have an open roster spot now to hit the buyout market, especially if they can get under the tax at the trade deadline.
It seems like this could end up being a disappointing trade deadline where the Magic are focused only on getting under the tax. And that might leave a major hole the team leaves unfilled heading into the Playoffs.