BREAKING: Magic acquire Desmond Bane (KCP, Cole + 4 1st Round Picks + 1 1st Round Pick Swap)

[tiderulz]

All the assets we acquired over the years and we used some for Desmond Bane? This was one of my worst fears giving away more than what was necessary. I bet he’ll come in and average less than his career average or get some kind of injury because that’s how it always goes for us.

Well his averages over the past 4 years (since he became a full time starter) are 20/5/4..........yeah ill assume those go down considering hes now the 3rd or 4th option behind 2 guys who both averaged over 24ppg last year, thats to be expected

but when #1 and/or #2 options have a bad night, he can easily be the top scorer those games.

[Ducklett]

Maybe I am just panicking though.

It was a heavy price to pay, but you're also panicking a little bit.

Bane has averaged 5.4 assists per game over the last two years combined.

It feels a good bit unfair to label him as a "3PT shooting specialist" - he can do more than that.

So he is a 3 point specialist that doesn't spam the shoot button!

I'll be totally honest one of my best friends buys and sells cards on whatnot and records box openings on YouTube and I was telling him to keep his rookie Banes aside for his locals because he was both a good player and a Magic trade target, so I am not going to be saying he is a bad player (because one of you psychos will deep dive and find the youtube video where i say this to use as evidence against me if i did). And hopefully I just made him some extra money!

[tiderulz]

Holy overpay. This is what I was worried about with keeping Weltham instead of replacing him

We needed a PG and got a 2/3 instead whose on a near max and also has an injury history/oblique injury.

4 uprotected 1sts for a player who isnt top 25 is insanity

Why not trade for Garland at that point? What is our PG situation going to be? Wtf is going on

Feels like this is the Hennigan moment of trading for Serge all over again. A monumental trade of nonsense

The only positive is not moving Suggs or AB, but at this cost I cant support. Ultimate vote of confidence towards them, something they havent earned in my eyes

its not really 4 unprotected and 2 of those will be in the 20's, but keep shouting it if it makes you feel heard

[tiderulz]

All the assets we acquired over the years and we used some for Desmond Bane? This was one of my worst fears giving away more than what was necessary. I bet he’ll come in and average less than his career average or get some kind of injury because that’s how it always goes for us.

What assets though???? They gave up salary filler and a few picks that are mostly gonna be in the 20s. The only thing that may actually pan out for Memphis is that pick swap in 26.

Like it's really not bad for an all star caliber player in his prime.

You don't get superstars for these packages anymore.

If KCP goes back to his career offensive averages he is a valuable player, certainly not filler.

2026 pick could be as high as the 2nd overall pick in whats supposed to be a pretty good draft.

those averages of 11 ppg?

[thelead]

I hope he is there man. He is about perfect off the bench for us. I would use TDS or Jett to trade up for whoever takes him if not. Hopefully he is just there at 25.

Also there is still a bunch of different variations of trades you can make via the trade machine with Portland and Simons. If you plug Simons and Clingan in you could go JI and Jett or JI and TDS for them. You could do Goga/WCJ/Jett for them. You could just do JI for Simons straight up. Could get Williams instead of Clingan. I don't know how the long term contract and stuff would work out...But I'm simply saying if Portland wants to play ball Simons is still an option to be had. Probably would be it for Clayton who would be a better price...but would definitely be in win now mode if we got Simons.

Clingan was their lotto pick last year and he played well. Why would they give him up in a rebuild???

Maybe they are committed to Ayton...They played well towards the end of the year...lol I dunno guy can dream right? I do think Simons can be had if they wanna hand the keys to Scot...all I'm saying is there are variations where Simons can still be had if they would still like to pursue him.

Simons I agree with. We have NO shot at Clingan.

[tiderulz]

All the assets we acquired over the years and we used some for Desmond Bane? This was one of my worst fears giving away more than what was necessary. I bet he’ll come in and average less than his career average or get some kind of injury because that’s how it always goes for us.

What assets though???? They gave up salary filler and a few picks that are mostly gonna be in the 20s. The only thing that may actually pan out for Memphis is that pick swap in 26.

Like it's really not bad for an all star caliber player in his prime.

You don't get superstars for these packages anymore.

We need a point guard FIRST! All of those assets could have been used for one.

but no PG is available. and the front office sees Suggs as the starting PG.

[bigdogdylan5]

2026 is the most ill informed pick ever it’s top 8 protected so if it’s top 10 it has to be 9-10

I hadn’t seen that restriction. Is that written on any reputable site?

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Additional clarification:

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I guess if phx is legit terrible or they move up then I guess it could look bad but it’s insanely complicated. I think they will try everything they can be to be as good as possible

[tiderulz]

I don't think it's guaranteed the Suns will completely suck. I don't see them as contenders by any means, but it seems like they're going to try to be a playoff team. Their top heavy talent didn't mix, and it was a big bust for them. But they'll get something back for Durant and still have Booker and Beal. It's not like they will be so devoid of talent that they just can't win a game. It will probably be a decent pick, but I don't think they're landing super high in the draft without another lottery miracle.

The West is tough. Phoenix would have to get back something really useful. With that said they don't own any of their picks so its not like they can tank. They kind of have to play it out, unless they could get their picks back from Houston (for Durant or Booker)

PHX with bad injuries this past year still had the #10 pick, not a top-5 pick. If they dont blow it up, there is still enough talent that the pick will likely be late lottery at best

[cedric76]

Pepe and VFX don't like this trade so it has to be a great trade

Stop the crying

Go Magic

[T-Cat]

Cole Anthony and Desmond Bane were in the same draft! It just miss Draft management

[Hogified05]

Clingan was their lotto pick last year and he played well. Why would they give him up in a rebuild???

Maybe they are committed to Ayton...They played well towards the end of the year...lol I dunno guy can dream right? I do think Simons can be had if they wanna hand the keys to Scot...all I'm saying is there are variations where Simons can still be had if they would still like to pursue him.

Simons I agree with. We have NO shot at Clingan.

Yea...probably overshot with Clingan..maybe if we still had that PHX swamp there was a chance. More likely Williams. There are avenues to get Simons though. I gotta think we have another move coming. I'd be ecstatic if all we do is get Clayton though in the draft. Dude coming off the bench hitting 3s is perfecto for us..not too mention Florida legend with Central Florida roots. Hell who knows...maybe down the line he is Steph Curry lite we need to run the offense.

I'm leaning towards them doing what they have to for Walt. Simons would be better now...but eventually have to pay him. Walt would be on the cheap for a few years. We will be cash strapped soon.

[basketballRob]

Bane is better than Garland, and he might be the Magic's 3rd or 4th best player.

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[drsd]

Great starting lineup

As of today:

Suggs/Black/Joseph
Bane/xxxx/Howard
F-Wagner/Harris/Houstan
Banchero/Isaac/da Silva
Carter/M-Wagner/Bitadze

This is 186,970,217 in gaurenteed money. Plus the three team-options that total 20,687,451. Let's assume that Harris cannot be renewed. Then that's 13,187,451 with 2,983,320 on the rookie salary. So currently the Magic is commited to 203,140,988 in salary for 2025/26 (without Harris). That is 4,684,012 BELOW the second apron. Enough money for a reasonable backup SG.

And as many have mentioned above, there is scope for reducing salary further. But: the Magic is nearly certain now to be above the first apron, no matter what.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

All the assets we acquired over the years and we used some for Desmond Bane? This was one of my worst fears giving away more than what was necessary. I bet he’ll come in and average less than his career average or get some kind of injury because that’s how it always goes for us.

18 ppg+ scorer for the last 4 years, career 41% from 3, good defensively, in his prime, and that was a "worst fear"

if you think he is going to get some injury and that Orlando is fated to fail, why not just go cheer for another team? this team even right now can legit compete for a top-4 seed.

No, my “worse fear” is that we’d use these assets to not get a point guard which is the most vital position that we need on this team. The other part of the injury concerns is just how it goes here. It gives me Grant Hill vibes. 2023-2024 was the first time in 5 years where injury wasn’t a huge concern and because Bane had healthy issues as well.

And why is everyone’s insult about not liking a trade is simply “go cheer for another team”? It’s okay for me to have a rash (even irrational) reaction like we always do here. I live in Orlando and I go to the games here. I enjoy this team. If I wanted to go and cheer for another team, I would have. But I didn’t stick around for some hard 12 seasons after Dwight left to walk away because I don’t like a trade.

[basketballRob]

All the assets we acquired over the years and we used some for Desmond Bane? This was one of my worst fears giving away more than what was necessary. I bet he’ll come in and average less than his career average or get some kind of injury because that’s how it always goes for us.

18 ppg+ scorer for the last 4 years, career 41% from 3, good defensively, in his prime, and that was a "worst fear"

if you think he is going to get some injury and that Orlando is fated to fail, why not just go cheer for another team? this team even right now can legit compete for a top-4 seed.

No, my “worse fear” is that we’d use these assets to not get a point guard which is the most vital position that we need on this team. The other part of the injury concerns is just how it goes here. It gives me Grant Hill vibes. 2023-2024 was the first time in 5 years where injury wasn’t a huge concern and because Bane had healthy issues as well.

And why is everyone’s insult about not liking a trade is simply “go cheer for another team”? It’s okay for me to have a rash (even irrational) reaction like we always do here. I live in Orlando and I go to the games here. I enjoy this team. If I wanted to go and cheer for another team, I would have.

You keep saying that, but Bane really is like a PG. Our top PG candidate this season was Garland, who had his best season and averaged 7.9 apg per 36 mpg on 27% usage. Bane averaged 6.0 apg per 36 on 23% usage.

Reaves averaged 5.9 apg per 36 mpg

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[jezzerinho]

As a big Bane fan but not a Weltman fan, not a fan of the outgoing picks and not a fan of No-PG basketball, I'm conflicted.

But Bane is a damn good player. I'd have traded Suggs for him straight up so I have to acknowledge he's a big get. Hope the fit works MULTIPLES better than the failed KCP experiment.

Bane is a lot better as an initiator and scorer, so it should be much much better.

[drsd]

Also the bench is bottom 5 IMO. Relies entirely on Moe Wagner and he isn’t back until Christmas probably.

Kind of a joke tbh.

The Magic needs a quality backup SG and a quality backup SF. The team suffered severly last year to deficiencies in both.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Great starting lineup

As of today:

Suggs/Black/Joseph
Bane/xxxx/Howard
F-Wagner/Harris/Houstan
Banchero/Isaac/da Silva
Carter/M-Wagner/Bitadze

This is 186,970,217 in gaurenteed money. Plus the three team-options that total 20,687,451. Let's assume that Harris cannot be renewed. Then that's 13,187,451 with 2,983,320 on the rookie salary. So currently the Magic is commited to 203,140,988 in salary for 2025/26 (without Harris). That is 4,684,012 BELOW the second apron. Enough money for a reasonable backup SG.

And as many have mentioned above, there is scope for reducing salary further. But: the Magic is nearly certain now to be above the first apron, no matter what.

What happened to Houston?
And Harris contact needs to be declined the second the NBA finals are over or when ever they can. That would leave us with 2 open rosters or 3 if Joseph is also declined.

EDIT: Sorry, just noticed that Houston is in the SF slot. For whatever reason I thought he was a 2.

[T-Cat]

This pretty much sums up the faith they had in Jett Howard!

I expect another surprise move by us around draft time.

Suggs isn't a point guard and he's turnover and injury prone!

[Magic_Johnny12]

I mean as fans you can’t really be mad.

Weltman publicly stated that they will go after proven offensive talent and literally acquired proven offensive talent.

Everyone wanted a star trade and he gave you one. It’s just not the star you imagined.

Orlando desperately needed shooting and he got you one of the best shooters in the NBA locked up longterm and technically just entering his prime.

Everyone wanted a guard that had playmaking skills and wasn’t a defensive liability and he got you exactly that.

Many people were against trading Black due to his upside and intangibles and he managed to make a major trade without the inclusion of him (or any youth really).

This teaches us that you have to give to get in this league.