Orlando Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman believes he is building his team in a strategic and methodical way. That is always how he has built.
The Magic spent their rebuild, beginning in the 2021 offseason, drafting players, nuturing them and letting them grow internally. This is a roster that has seen very little turnover and few seismic changes over the years in a league that has been about constant change.
The Desmond Bane trade last summer was the first trade where the Magic acquired a rotation player since the Bol Bol trade in Feb. 2022. And nobody thought Bol was going to be a rotation player in that seemingly throwaway deal with the Boston Celtics.
Orlando has a baseline team that can make the Playoffs. But getting out of the first round has remained difficult despite reaching Game 7 in two of the past three years. This team still fell short.
That would normally mean a team is hunting for every way to improve. Weltman has publicly said that is what the team is doing.
But with limited free agency capital to spend with the team in the first apron for the first time, the Magic would seemingly have to explore the trade market.
Yet, Orlando has handcuffed itself. Weltman publicly said he believes in the team's starting lineup and does not want to touch it. That left precious little to offer in the trade market.
Uncertainty with the Magic's center rotation is only making that trade window tighter.
As Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of the Stein Line reported late Sunday night that the Magic are rebuffing attempts to acquire backup center Goga Bitadze.
Maybe that is a negotiating ploy. Or maybe the Magic are truly afraid that Moe Wagner will be departing the team, leaving them exposed at center.
But it is all leading to one conclusion: The Magic are not entering the trade market, and their window to improve the roster is shrinking further.
There is a real chance the magic will add a few players on the margins with their limited free agency capital, but this is a team that is essentially running it back from a rough 45-win season.
The Goga Decision
So much of the buying power for the Orlando Magic this offseason is based on their willingness to make trades. They are a first-apron team now and do not have many tools to use in free agency. Trades are the only way to improve the team.
But if the Magic's starters are not on the table along with the likely extension for Anthony Black, the next biggest salary the Magic have to move now is Goga Bitadze's $7.6 million salary. That was the biggest piece the Magic supposedly had on the table.
There was rightfully a lot of attention on what the Magic could get for that.
It was never going to amount to much. Not unless the Magic added Jase Richardson or Tristan da Silva to the mix to bring back a $10 million player. Stretching Jonathan Isaac's cap hit would give the Magic some space to take back more money by sitting roughly $5 million below the first apron.
But all of the Magic's trade efforts were centered on Bitadze one way or another. Unless the Magic wanted to include one of their starters or first six players. There was no sign that was happening.
If the Magic feel like they are going to lose Moe Wagner to free agency , they cannot afford to be so unsettled at center. Especially considering their limited capital and Wendell Carter's typical injury history.
Bitadze was the only player the Magic could trade and he is now suddenly someone the team cannot afford to trade.
No bigger deals on the table?
It should be clear then that the Orlando Magic have somewhat handcuffed themselves. By being unwilling to -- or creating such a posture -- make any of their main players available, the Magic have taken themselves almost completely out of the trade market.
The juiciest trade rumor that has come out -- aside from passing interest in Giannis Antetokounmpo or perhaps Jaylen Brown that did not seem to get very far -- was that the Magic were one of the teams asking about Cameron Johnson from the Denver Nuggets, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
The Nuggets are trying to navigate the second apron, making trades difficult with any team. But the Magic, being a first-apron team, would not be able to take on Johnson and his $23.1 million salary without a third team to satisfy all the salary rules. It gets complicated.
Johnson had something of a down year, averaging 12.2 points per game but shooting a career-best 40.2 percent from three. His 3-point shooting would be valuable. But he would come off the bench with the Magic's two best players at forward.
There seems to be no major changes on the way despite a disappointing finish as the 8-seed.
The Magic are not completely allergic to change. They responded to their two previous playoff defeats by signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and acquiring Desmond Bane, two seismic shifts to thet eam's staritng lineup and roster (of varying degrees).
But this summer is not presenting much hope for change to the roster.
The Magic are seemingly struggling to get over the hurdle that every team seems to do so easily. This Magic team does not want to make a trade. They are holding on to their roster like precious diamonds, even if those diamonds are imperfect and potentially of low quality.
The Magic are better on health and internal growth, blaming that solely for last season's failures.
Indeed, injuries were a huge factor in the Magic falling short. But nobody can look at this roster honestly and say that is the only reason the team failed to compete at the highest levels. The Magic were clearly missing more.
And sitting out on the trade market, even with the small things available to them, is a missed opportunity.
That has seemingly been the story with the Magic far too often.
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