No, the Orlando Magic are not willing to trade Victor Oladipo, their third-year guard out of Indiana, so stop asking.
Not that you, good NBA general managers, were asking. But anyone even remotely convinced that head coach Scott Skiles’ decision to move Oladipo to the bench signaled that Orlando was ready to talk turkey should promptly reconsider all of their other life decisions.
From Basketball Insiders’ Steve Kyler:
The Magic have a role for Oladipo. He’ll be their sixth man this year and they’ll look at things in the offseason. For those that believe Oladipo is somehow obtainable in trade, he really is not. It would take a monster of a transaction to get Orlando to even seriously talk about it.
Makes sense.
Victor Oladipo’s shooting percentages have hit rock bottom, and his role remains in consistent. Though he’s spent most of the season coming off the bench, Skiles has reinserted him into the starting lineup over each of the last two games.
But that’s not reason enough for the Magic to move him. Bringing him off the bench now—assuming that’s still the plan—works because they have Evan Fournier, but he’s slated for restricted free agency. If he plays himself out of Orlando’s price range—a possibility given the team has already invested heavy money in Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic—Oladipo, along with Mario Hezonja, becomes that much more important.
It will be interesting to see what the Magic do about Victor Oladipo’s contract situation. He’ll be eligible for an extension this summer, and from the looks of things, Orlando won’t be prepared to throw a long-term deal his way—unless he signs at a steep discount.
