Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Orlando Magic

While trading away Evan Fournier definitely hurts the Magic’s chances of winning games now, it definitely sets them up for a lot of potential success moving forward. When you look at the Magic this year, it is very clear to see that injuries have taken away this team’s chance to win, but even if they were fully healthy, they are a team that would get bounced in the first-round of the playoffs, if they even made the playoffs.

Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross, and Fournier are the only three impact players that are reliable on this team, which is why they would not have a lot of success this year anyways if they were fully healthy. The lack of talent on this team is their main problem, which is why they should trade away some of their veteran players to get younger and acquire draft picks. 

While Brook Lopez is not the definition of “getting younger,” he is definitely an impact player who could be flipped for some young talent or even more draft picks. Lopez does carry a fairly big contract with him, making it a little difficult to trade him to another team, but there would definitely be interest for the veteran center should he become available in trade talks. 

The best part about trading away Fournier to the Bucks is the fact that the Magic get two immediate first-round picks. Not only could they use those picks to draft more high-level, young talent to pair with Cole Anthony to create a young core, but they could even leverage these picks to acquire another star-level talent to pair with Vucevic. 

The options on how to build their team of the future are endless for the Magic, but they need to be able to acquire the assets to do so first. Trading away Fournier does that for them, which is why it may not be crazy to see him on the move ahead of the trade deadline.