Has Jeff Green played his last game as a member of the Orlando Magic?
Probably.
Green hasn’t played since March 20 while dealing with back spasms. He told reporters the team was benching him for the year so it can play the young guys, and head coach Frank Vogel confirmed as much, per the Orlando Sentinel‘s Josh Robbins:
“Their plan is to shut me down for the rest of the year and let the young guys play,” Green said Wednesday.
Green has missed the last seven games and hasn’t played since March 20.
Team officials are listing him as having a sore lower back.
Coach Frank Vogel said “there’s a good chance” Green’s season is finished, but Vogel said there’s a chance that Green will return to the rotation.
“We haven’t really made any declaration that it’s final for the year,” Vogel said. “In my mind, it’s still game-to-game.”
Translation: The Magic are tanking, and they want to play the kiddies. And that’s fine. Green is 30 and doesn’t factor into the big picture. At least, he shouldn’t.
The Magic signed him to a one-year, $15 million deal last summer. It was a clear overpay, one that suggested Green could be used as salary-matching fodder at the trade deadline. Orlando could always go that route again over the offseason, but it’s unlikely.
Cap space will be harder to come by this summer, and the Magic don’t own Green’s Bird rights. Overpaying him once more would eat into their spending power. And what limited flexibility they have should be used on finding another point guard or on-ball facilitator and wings who can shoot. Green satisfies neither requirement. He is shooting 27.5 percent from deep for the season and has averaged more than three assists per 100 possessions just once for his career.
Granted, these are the Magic, so anything can happen. But their time and money is better spent developing Mario Hezonja. Though, with that in mind, if the Magic are really committed to tanking, they could always circle back to Green, assuming he’s healthy enough. The Philadelphia 76ers are a game off the East’s second-worst record, and Green has played poorly enough to aid the Magic’s quest for top-four draft positioning.
