Why this trade makes sense for the Orlando Magic

Injuries have defined the Orlando Magic’s season to this point and it is a shame that a ton of young talents are injured because they actually have a decent amount of talent on their roster. With Nikola Vucevic having the best season of his career, Terrence Ross continuing to be one of the league’s top bench scorers and plenty of youthful talents stepping up into bigger roles, the Magic could’ve been a special team this year, but now they will be facing an uphill journey. 

Veteran wing Evan Fournier is now in the final year of his contract and the Magic do not have much cap space moving forward, which is why they could look to be “sellers” at the trade deadline and try to acquire more young, future talent. 

While Dennis Schroder is not “young, future talent,” he is in the final year of his contract and would free up a ton of cap space over the next few years since the Magic would be moving Terrence Ross. Not to mention, with all of the injuries on this Magic roster, Schroder could be their starting point guard and potentially help them make an unlikely run at the playoffs. 

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If the Magic were fully healthy this year, they would have likely had a shot to make their third consecutive playoff appearance, but even if they did make it, this team is a long ways away from being a championship contender. They have a lot of young, high-level talents on their roster and an All-Star center in Nikola Vucevic, but there is nothing that stands out about this team in terms of contention in the East. 

As a result, the Magic would be smart to take a step back and continue building for the future since they are not quite ready to turn themselves into a real threat in the East. Trading Terrence Ross and freeing up cap space is a great start to doing so.