The Orlando Magic were one of the surprises of the season earlier this year. Since then, they have been going through a slide. The Magic are 3-7 in their last ten and have fallen all the way to the 11th seed in the East, 3.5 games out of the playoffs.
With the team sliding out of the playoffs, it appears the team is looking to shake up the roster through trades despite center Nikola Vucevic’s pleas to the contrary. According to ESPN’s Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst, Orlando is in the market for veterans, including Atlanta Hawks’ point guard Jeff Teague. Additionally, the team seems to be gauging interest in Victor Oladipo and Tobias Harris.
There is a lot to digest here. The Magic have a solid young core, though there are questions about how they all fit together. For example, Oladipo has not had the best fit with back court partner Elfrid Payton. Many have long speculated that the team would eventually change the roster through a trade to get a more complete roster.
Harris is a good trade chip but he is on a max contract. It would take a very bold team to trade for him knowing he would take up a large portion of their cap space. Oladipo is a much more valuable asset, a young player who is on the way to becoming a great guard in the league. That being said, he should be the last player the Magic attempt to trade.
On a similar note, if the Magic are indeed interested in trading for Teague with a package involving Teague, they would be creating an even more redundant roster. Teague and Payton would find it difficult to play next to each other, and both are not worthy of being benched.
All of this leads me to believe this trade will not happen. However, it may be entirely likely that the Magic trade for a different veteran addition with different pieces on their roster. They have quite a few assets in young players and draft picks and if they are hasty to make the playoffs, the opportunity is there.
