Magic acquire a 2026 1st round pick swap from Phoenix for three 2nd round picks

[penny_nz]

Completely forgot we did this to be honest. The odds on this have definitely improved!

[drsd]

Mannn this pick swap is looking even better today with the Suns playoff showing. I'm sticking with my prediction above from a year ago.

I wouldnt celebrate yet. Durant is still Durant. Booker is still booker.

They just need to get a good coach.

They don't have picks, Beal looks washed, and they just paid Grayson Allen a zillion dollars. They need a lot more than a coach.

I loved the Barkley rant on Phoenix (and LAL) on firing their coaches. His basic point: the Suns and the Lakers suck because their players suck.

Look at Phoenix. These were major minutes guys: Drew Eubanks, Josh Okogie, Nassir Little, Bol Bol, Jordan Goodwin, and Keita Bates-Diop. You are more of a fan than I if you have actually heard of all those players.
The reality is that the Suns is constructed to have a great starting-five and no bench at all. That does not work in the modern NBA. And if any of the five starters loses time to injury (and we are talking about players on the wrong side of 35), then what?

Phoenix went all in for a year-year run. Well that one year past. Now the team will flame out. It will be ugly.

And we are talking about the off-season after next off-season. Right? If so:

The Orlando Magic have acquired the unprotected swap rights to a 2026 first round draft pick from Phoenix or Washington in exchange for three future second round draft picks – the 2024 pick from Denver, the 2026 least-favorable pick between Orlando, Milwaukee or Detroit (via the L.A. Clippers) and 2028 pick from Boston (protected 31-45), President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman announced today.

From the 2026 offseason, the Magic will be over he cap. Quality players on rookie deals is how great teams afford a good bench. This deal is genius.
In the 2025.26 season, isn't there a chance that Washington would actually be better than Phoenix? And either way, isn't it basically certain that this pick will be in ther lottery? If so, the Magic essentially traded a low FRP (their pick that would be swapped) and three SRPs for a lottery pick. That's theft.

[Optimus_Steel]

Here’s to hoping Washington wins lottery and Phoenix gets #2 pick!!!

The way things ended this year and with Durant’s age and decline this is not far fetched at all.

[Optimus_Steel]

So: the Suns has 11 players on a min deal and six second round picks.

This is the future of having so many maxed out players.

The Magic are banking on this falling apart in the next few years. I wouldnt be shocked if they are right. Maybe by then we have enough assets to bring Booker over

Could the Magic use this as leverage to trade for Booker down the road? Like give us a better deal for Booker and we’ll give you back the swap since you need higher draft picks for rebuild?

[Optimus_Steel]

WTF, 3 2nd rounder to SWAP firsts in 2026....are you kidding me ???? Is your FO expecting the Suns to be worse than your team....LMAO

The Suns were trash not that long ago so yes that's what they are gambling on. We'll see what happens, either way appreciate the low risk gamble.


Sent from my Pixel 7 using RealGM mobile app

Lol we are already better!

[drsd]

Could the Magic use this as leverage to trade for Booker down the road? Like give us a better deal for Booker and we’ll give you back the swap since you need higher draft picks for rebuild?

Teams have certainly traded back rights to pick swap. It is allowable, if that is your question.

[fendilim]

So: the Suns has 11 players on a min deal and six second round picks.

This is the future of having so many maxed out players.

The Magic are banking on this falling apart in the next few years. I wouldnt be shocked if they are right. Maybe by then we have enough assets to bring Booker over

Could the Magic use this as leverage to trade for Booker down the road? Like give us a better deal for Booker and we’ll give you back the swap since you need higher draft picks for rebuild?

Not sure if it will suck so much. We’ll likely have the 2nd best pick in the 3 picks involved, if i’m reading it correctly.

[pepe1991]

The Magic are banking on this falling apart in the next few years. I wouldnt be shocked if they are right. Maybe by then we have enough assets to bring Booker over

Could the Magic use this as leverage to trade for Booker down the road? Like give us a better deal for Booker and we’ll give you back the swap since you need higher draft picks for rebuild?

Not sure if it will suck so much. We’ll likely have the 2nd best pick in the 3 picks involved, if i’m reading it correctly.

Yea, first Wizards can swap their pick with Suns pick, than after they do ( or don't do it) , we can swap pick with whatever is left.

It's too early to talk about this given we have no clue how Wizards nor Suns will look like in 2025-26 season, when this becomes talking point.

[MAGICian619]

I'd say after two more seasons the lottery odds for these teams are:

Wizards: 95%
Suns 60%
Magic 0%

There really isn't any scenario where this Wizards teams exits the lottery within two years even if they hit the lottery two years in a row. No one from this years draft is greatly improving their record and even with a Cooper Flagg rookie year, this is still a lottery team.

The Suns are the bigger question mark obviously but honestly could be even worse than a young Wizards team if the team really falls apart. I think these odds are 40% they figure it out and are a playoff team with aging stars, 40% they try and fail and are a mid lottery team, 20% it's an absolute disaster and they are a bottom 5 team in NBA.

Regardless, the pick swap happening for us (Magic better than Suns and Wizards in 25-26) has got to be in the 85-90% range.

[purpleswordfish]

I'm glad this got bumped. At the time, looked like it might not be a huge win for the Magic. But now, this has a chance to really benefit the team in a few years. All for the price of second rounders, which this front office hasn't really done a whole lot with year to year.

That Phoenix roster is potentially due for a drastic decline if Durant slows down much in the next few seasons.

[RookieStar]

I'm glad this got bumped. At the time, looked like it might not be a huge win for the Magic. But now, this has a chance to really benefit the team in a few years. All for the price of second rounders, which this front office hasn't really done a whole lot with year to year.

That Phoenix roster is potentially due for a drastic decline if Durant slows down much in the next few seasons.

39 yrs old Durant
Booker fed up with his daddy Luka in the WC
Who knows about Beal

Yup... that team is.....

[three3d]

Interestingly Bryce James would be eligible for the 2026 NBA Draft. Its early bit hasn’t he been projected to be the better of the two LeBrom James sons?

[RookieStar]

Interestingly Bryce James would be eligible for the 2026 NBA Draft. Its early bit hasn’t he been projected to be the better of the two LeBrom James sons?

Another one? Daaaannngggg...