Orlando Magic: Max Out Harrison Barnes?

Harrison Barnes hits free agency this summer and the Orlando Magic would be wise to offer him a maximum deal to join them.

Now that the Orlando Magic have finally made a notable roster move, it feels like there could be more to follow this summer. Kevin Durant? Come on, be realistic. It’s about picking up second-tier players while other teams wait on Durant to decide where he’s going to play next.

Which is exactly what the team is likely to do. Now that the likes of Tobias Harris and Victor Oladipo have moved on, you get the feeling that quality veterans will step in to take their place.

We have already seen this with Serge Ibaka joining the team in a move that sent Oladipo the other way. In an ideal world, the organization would also be able to make a serious run at the likes of Al Horford and Mike Conley.

In reality though, there are so many intriguing options for free agents out there, that the Magic will find it difficult to convince more quality players to come and join Ibaka and their interesting young core.

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Harrison Barnes is one such player who will have no shortage of options on where to play next season. While you would think that would work against Orlando given that it hasn’t been to the playoffs in four years and is a young team, that may not necessarily be the case.

This is because there’s a question that many have uttered in relation to Barnes as his date with free agency approaches. Is he worth a max contract? Based off his performance in the NBA Finals, you would have to say no.

But what if the Magic did indeed decide to offer him a max deal? They’d increase the chances of landing another notable player, but it would come with the caveat of being stuck with him for nearly half a decade regardless of how he pans out.

Still though, there are plenty of positives in trying to add Barnes. Before looking at these however, it may also make sense for the player as well. On the surface joining a team like the Magic would seem a step back.

But in moving to the more straightforward Eastern Conference, Barnes, along with Ibaka, would likely lead this team back to the playoffs. He’s still a relative youngster in this league, but being an NBA champion, Olympian and bringing a team back to relevance is good going for a 24-year-old.

Besides, if the argument can be made that he’ll be joining the Philadelphia 76ers, really is coming to Orlando any less plausible? He would automatically become the best player on the team, the face of a franchise crying out for any semblance of a star player.

With the Golden State Warriors, he wasn’t even the third or fourth option on the court usually. In actual fact, his role on the team has varied from starter, to bench player, to specific role player more suited to particular lineups and everything in between.

So Orlando can offer him a sunny place to live that is tax free as it pays him more money than he’s likely worth, all while making him the face of this team as it enters the next phase of it’s development.

On the court, the potential to team him with Ibaka and Nikola Vucevic is fabulous in theory. Ibaka is a two-way player who can shoot the three pointer well. Draymond Green he is not, but he’s got a lot of similarities and more experience too.

Vucevic is a beautiful offensive player, perhaps the most underrated big man in the league in terms of attacking moves. He’s not much of a rim protector (that’s what Ibaka is for) but on one end of the floor at least, he is comparable to Andrew Bogut.

So a transition from a history making team like the Warriors to a young team like the Magic isn’t as drastic as it may seem. Those three players alone are an above average pairing at the forward and center spots in the league today.

The thought of Elfrid Payton finding him with sweet dimes or Brandon Jennings (if he stays) expanding the court for him even more makes Barnes a no-brainer when it comes to players the Magic should be pursuing.

His poor showing in the NBA finals (averaged 9.3 points and disappeared in those final three games) almost works in Orlando’s favor too, as some teams may be turned off offering him a max deal off the back of his horror show on basketball’s biggest stage.

They shouldn’t though, as all players go through rough patches (guys like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson weren’t exactly consistent during that run either), it was just unlucky that Barnes’s came when it did.

Is Harrison Barnes worth a max contract? That’s a difficult question to answer, and is unique to each franchise. For the Orlando Magic, it makes a lot of sense because they need an established player in this league who they can turn to on their road back to relevance.

They’re not going to get meetings with the premiere free agents, and so will have to overpay the next level of quality guys to get their attention. Barnes can be that guy, especially given that he plays the small forward position predominantly.

His ability to hit three-pointers and defend opponents well from that position make him a hot commodity, especially when you consider the interest guys like Jimmy Butler have received.

He would also complete erase the memory of that poor Tobias Harris trade, as he is a more complete version of Harris at this stage of his career.

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There isn’t likely to be much more to cheer this summer, so why not give Harrison Barnes a maximum contract and see where he can take this team?