The Orlando Magic could do worse than inquire about D’Angelo Russell

With a high lottery pick and a new general manager in place the Orlando Magic are off to a promising summer, but would adding D’Angelo Russell make it much better?

Right now the Orlando Magic are mulling over who to choose with the sixth pick in the upcoming 2017 NBA Draft.

Given that the talent pool from this class is so deep, it’s a nice position to be in. There’s even less pressure because the team can pick from the best available player left and work from there.

After all, we’ve seen them not quite get it right with higher draft picks, with players like Victor Oladipo being proof of that.

Already we’re hearing plenty of talk about who the team should not draft with their pick. No matter who they go for, a franchise-altering point guard might not be left on the board when their time to select is up.

Which is why they should look at potentially exploring a trade that would bring Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell to town.

On the surface, this doesn’t make much sense for the Magic, but there is a case to be made for looking to add Russell to the team.

It starts with their current point guard situation, and what will be available in this draft as well. Elfrid Payton, their current starter at this position, has improved leaps and bounds in his three years with the team.

He’s fantastic at driving to the basket, has the most triple-doubles in franchise history and averaged a career-high (6.5) in assists last season.

But fans would be kidding themselves if they thought he had shown enough to even think about being an All-Star level player one day. We live in an era where great teams need great point guards, and Payton would fall into the lower third of the league when ranking each team’s starter at that position.

That’s no knock on him, however, and he’s shown through coming off the bench for this team before that he can be an excellent sixth man.

He’s started 190 of the 237 games he’s played for the team, but he’s been taken out of the starting lineup enough to know how not being a starter works.

It would also be a tasty combination alongside likely backup starter Nikola Vucevic, who expanded his game beyond the three-point line this season (shooting just over 30 percent).

If the team could add somebody like Russell, automatically they become a better team offensively, and he brings that much more interest to the team as well.

Russell is by no means a star in this league, but he looks the part. He’s got a flashy offensive game and that ice in his veins celebration he likes to crack out every so often.

These are by not concrete reasons to sign a player, but it’s also true to say the Magic need a reason for fans to tune in. Ask a casual fan who doesn’t support the Magic to name their starting five, and they’ll struggle.

Bring up Russell’s name, and at the very least they’ll be aware of that outrageous Nick Young video he leaked.

It may seem a weak argument, but on any given night why would you tune in to watch the Magic play?

The idea of watching well run defensive schemes by solid and unspectacular professionals is one thing. Switching over to watch Bismack Biyombo set a crushing screen for Russell, who in turn lobs the ball to a rising Aaron Gordon is another.

They’d be a second tier version of the Los Angeles Clippers in the East. Given that right now they’re not anything at all, that’s not a bad position to be in.

They could even go all in and bring Doc Rivers into the fold as head coach as well, even if that no longer looks likely. Beyond the aesthetically pleasing nature of having Russell on the team, having him as the starter with Payton backing him up makes sense for other reasons.

He’s a career 35 percent three-point shooter, and has averaged more points (15.6) than Payton ever has in this league.

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According to NBA.com, 61 percent of all Payton’s points come from 0-3 feet from the basket. For Russell, 40 percent of all points he scores come from 16 feet an further away from the hole.

That is but one number that shows how both players operate, but it’s a telling statistic. Insert Russell into this Magic team and watch Terrence Ross get more open looks.

Mario Hezonja suddenly has more room to operate as well, as does Evan Fournier.

Payton is without doubt the better passer of the two, but Russell’s 4.8 assists last season weren’t a million miles from what Payton posted.

Interestingly, Russell was judged to have lost the ball 121 times over the course of the season. For Payton, that number was 127.

Russell was judged to have made 29 bad passes leading to turnovers (that number was a whopping 93 during his rookie year), while Payton had 18.

We like to think of Payton a somebody who looks after the ball, a player who is only getting better in that regard. That may be true, but with one year less experience Russell isn’t as far behind him as you might think. This despite having a reputation as more of a carefree player who tries risky plays.

Besides, it would be cool to see a player go in the other direction, after the Lakers took the two best players in Magic franchise history (Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard).

Finally, given that the Lakers are likely to take Lonzo Ball, their need for a point guard like Russell dwindles.

This means it may not cost the Magic a lot to acquire him. Already we’ve discussed why Dennis Smith Jr. represents a player too similar to Payton to try and get this summer as well.

So why not see if D’Angelo Russell is available? He is only two years into his career, would draw interest and would be a totally different player stylistically to Elfrid Payton.

Next: 2017 NBA Mock Draft: Post-Lottery edition

It may not seem like a stretch, but in the context of the Orlando Magic’s young history, stranger things have happened.