Orlando Magic
Nothing has gone right for the Orlando Magic this year other than Nikola Vucevic being named an All-Star for the second time in his career. Vucevic has been having one of the best years of his career at 30-years old, but injuries have decimated this team’s chances at being anything special this year.
Young forward Jonathan Isaac is out for the year with an ACL injury, Markelle Fultz is out for the year with an ACL injury, Aaron Gordon has missed weeks with a severe ankle sprain, Evan Fournier has been dealing with a slew of injuries this season and rookie point guard Cole Anthony has been out the last couple of week with a rib injury.
This organization just cannot get rid of the “injury bug” and as a result, they find themselves with one of the worst records in the Eastern Conference. The Magic have made the playoffs the last two seasons, but unless they make a huge move at the NBA trade deadline, they will be drafting in the lottery once again, searching for who could potentially flip this franchise around.
Even at full strength, the Orlando Magic probably would be nothing more than a first-round playoff team, which is why they could be in the market to make a big move at the NBA trade deadline or even next offseason. Kristaps Porzingis could be an excellent player to pair with Nikola Vucevic in the frontcourt, especially since it would give them one of the best frontcourt duos in the entire league.
One seven footer is hard enough to guard and having two of them would be virtually impossible to stop. Not to mention, both Vucevic and Porzingis are two of the best shooting big men from the top of the arc. Their ability to step out on the perimeter in pick-and-roll sets and knock down three-pointers is as good as you can get in the league today, which is why this could be a great move by the Magic.
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With Evan Fournier being in the final year of his contract and Aaron Gordon not being as consistent of a scoring option as the Magic have hoped for over the last few seasons, the Magic could potentially package these two guys together with a first-round pick for Porzingis.
Who knows if this is enough value on Dallas’ end of things to make this trade, but for Orlando, they could really benefit from adding that second, reliable All-Star like talent to their roster. Having both him and Vucevic in the frontcourt with hopefully a healthy young core moving forward, the Magic all of a sudden would have something and could potentially be a force in the Eastern Conference, something they have not been since around 2008.
