NBA Trade Grades: Pistons Send Jodie Meeks To Magic
Orlando Magic
From the Magic side of things, bringing in Meeks brings both positives and negatives.
Of course, the Magic have drastically overhauled their team recently, with the Serge Ibaka-for-Victor Oladipo/Ersan Ilyasova/Domantas Sabonis deal that occured on draft night.
If that move, along with the addition of head coach Frank Vogel wasn’t a sign that the Magic are ready to climb out of the NBA cellar, this move further emphasizes that they’re looking for players who can contribute now.
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From that perspective, acquiring Meeks, especially for the price the Magic had to give up, is a solid deal.
From a financial perspective, adding Meeks’ money puts a minor dent in their cap space this summer (the Magic are slated to have as much as $37 million in cap space).
The question left is how big of a role will Meeks have for the Magic this season.
It’s impossible to know at this point, but with the Magic prioritizing bringing back pending restricted free agent Evan Fournier as well as having the promising Mario Hezonja, Meeks very well could be buried within the team’s rotation.
Ultimately, for the price they paid, adding in Meeks is a good decision on their part and only having him on the books for one season doesn’t do any long-term to their cap situation.
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Whether Meeks will have an impact for the Magic on the floor is the bigger question that they’ll have to answer this season.
Grade: B-