After trading for Serge Ibaka, then signing Bismack Biyombo and Jeff Green to big-money deals, you’d think the Orlando Magic would be gearing up for a Nikola Vucevic trade.
They aren’t.
Not even when they know Aaron Gordon probably isn’t the best fit at small forward? Not even then.
From ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe:
The potential playmaking void is one reason the Magic are in no rush to trade Vucevic despite the logjam, league sources say. They might need his post game, and especially his passing. Last season, Vucevic quietly morphed into one of the league’s best passing centers. He assisted on 16 percent of Orlando’s hoops while on the floor, a tidy number for a big man; only five centers racked up more potential assists, per SportVU tracking data.
Lowe makes a great point here, as Biyombo, Ibaka and Green form one of the worst frontcourt passing trios in the game. It also helps that Vucevic is under contract for the next three years at a bargain-bin price rate. The Magic need that stability.
Ibaka and Green will both be free agents next summer, and there is no guarantee either of them stays. Aaron Gordon will also be extension-eligible, so the Magic will have to make some sort of a financial decision on his future. Vucevic and Biyombo, then, are the only two bigs they actually control long term.
Sure, the Magic’s plan is clearly to max out Ibaka next season and hope Gordon can spend ample time at the 3. But if this experiment goes awry, or if Ibaka decides Orlando isn’t for him, they can’t really afford to move Vucevic.
At the same time, if the frontcourt monster that they’ve built can’t meet expectations next season, they may not be able to keep him either, lest the entire season end up being a lost cause.
