It is easy right now for everyone to let their wildest dreams run loose when it comes to the acquisition of Desmond Bane.
The Orlando Magic pulled off a major trade to transform their team, giving them one of the best shooters in the league. It seemingly did two things: Improved the team's overall talent and starting lineup without giving up any of the team's core players and gave the team the shooter it so desperately needed without sacrificing much of its defensive identity.
It is a trade to celebrate. It is perhaps the biggest offseason acquisition the Magic have made since Rashard Lewis in 2007. It is certainly the most consequential trade the Magic have made since their reset trade in 2021 that sent out Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon and set the team on this path.
To say the least, expectations are already high for what Bane can deliver to this team. With the financial restrictions and the draft capital the Magic spent to bring Bane in, the pressure to win has been welcomed. This gambit will not be successful without that.
For all Bane has provided in the regular season then, ultimately the Magic as a team and this trade in generall will be judged by their performance in the Playoffs.
As Jeff Weltman put it Monday after the trade, the Magic are not aiming just to compete for the Eastern Conference title, they want to win a championship. Jamahl Mosley put it succinctly during the team's exit interviews too: The Magic are not aiming to be mediocre.
If there is one thing, then, that should give Magic fans pause or turn down the heat on the excitement, it is that Bane struggled mightily in the Memphis Grizzlies' four-game series with the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team in the NBA Finals and one win away from winning the championship.
Bane finished that series averaging 15.3 points per game. But he shot only 7 for 32 (21.9 percent) from three and 20 for 63 (31.7 percent) from the floor. On top of that he averaged 3.8 turnovers per game against 3.3 assists per game.
In other words, against one of the best defenses in the league and a championship-level team the Magic may have to beat, Bane did not have his best showing.
While Bane undoubtedly checks a lot of boxes, this struggle raises questions about how he fits in. Even seasoned observers shared concerns about his playoff performance.
"We played Oklahoma City. We played them. That happened," Memphis-based podcaster Chris Vernon said on The Bill Simmons Podcast. "And he was 20 for 72 [sic] and 7 for 32 from three and couldn't dribble against any of them. We played that team and the team that's the mountain, the one that you have to climb in the Western Conference, we played them and he was pitiful."
It does raise some red flags.
Bane struggled against the elite teams
This was not isolated to a bad playoff series against the best team in the league and its likely champion.
Indeed, even in the regular season, Bane averaged only 15.0 points per game and shot 8 for 27 from three against the Thunder in four regular-season games. Against the Orlando Magic and its second-ranked defense, Bane struggled with just 29 total points and 4-for-12 shooting from deep in the two meetings with Orlando.
Even against Eastern Conference contenders Bane struggled. He scored 26 total points and shot 3 for 10 from three in two games against the Boston Celtics and scored 19 total points and shot 2-for-16 from three against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Theoretically, Bane will not have the same offensive load he had with the Grizzlies. Theoretically, playing alongside Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner will ease his creation burden and get him more open shots.
But these are not strong signs in Bane's favor. The team still needs some development and growth.
Bane comes with weaknesses the Magic will work around
That is the fairest warning about Desmond Bane and his production.
Orlando opted to bring in a playmaking shooting guard as its big move. The Magic should not be banking on Bane being the lead point guard or they could see results similar to those against the elite teams in the league.
Bane is not a point guard and the Magic should be pressing to take advantage of his shooting.
"If you're looking for him to be [the team's point guard], I don't see that ending well for the Magic and their fans," Joe Mullinax of Locked on Grizzlies told me on a recent episode of Locked On Magic. "If you focus on the three-point shooting, obviously the three-level scoring, all the things that the Magic struggled with, 27th-ranked offense this past season, if that's your emphasis, I think he's going to do well. But if you're really sinking your teeth into, oh well, he can also play the point. That makes me nervous for Magic fans."
This is perhaps the biggest way Bane does not check every box for the Magic and they must still play with some caution and not overload him with playmaking responsibility.
The good news then is that his 2024 Playoffs seems like an outlier.
He averaged 23.5 points per game during the Grizzlies' six-game series loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2024, although he shot just 16 for 50 (32.0 percent) from three. He averaged 18.8 points per game and shot 48.9 percent on 7.3 3-point attempts per game in the 2022 Playoffs when Memphis reached the second round.
Having said that, most of that scoring came in the first round. He aveaged only 14.0 points per game but shot 16 for 33 from three in the second-round series loss to the Golden State Warriors that year.
It seems the Magic will still need to be judicious with how they use Bane as a creator against elite competition to get the most out of his shooting.
But Orlando is still clearly putting the pieces together of who Bane is and what their team will be like.