Orlando Magic
At first glance, this seems like a horrendous trade for the Orlando Magic. Sure, Elfrid Payton hasn’t panned out as the team’s franchise point guard, but trading a former top-10 pick ahead of his restricted free agency for a mere second round pick has got to be a loss, right?
Orlando might be worse at developing talent than Sacramento.
— Josh Eberley 🇨🇦 (@JoshEberley) February 8, 2018
Not so fast. While this is yet another condemnation of the last front office’s drafting ability, and while it’s thoroughly disappointing to see Payton’s Magic tenure end this way, the pick the Suns are sending to Orlando is more valuable than meets the eye. Or, at least, it was as the deal was originally reported.
If the season ended today, the second-rounder that Woj reported as being owed to Orlando (via Memphis) would clock in around No. 36, making it more of an asset than your normal second round pick. Unfortunately, Robbins confirmed it’s actually the second-most valuable pick of the group, currently making it No. 41.
That’s not great value for a former lottery selection, especially since the Magic originally traded Dario Saric and a 2015 second round pick that became Willy Hernangomez. However, they were never going to get a first round pick in such a tight market anyway.
First major move from Orlando's new front office -- cutting bait on Payton before he heads to free agency. Price seems low, but 0% chance of getting a 1st-round pick for him. https://t.co/mEN51iDKgJ
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) February 8, 2018
With Orlando having to worry about Aaron Gordon‘s upcoming restricted free agency and not convinced Payton was their point guard of the future after three and a half seasons with the team, it was time to move on.
At that point, taking what they could get became the objective. This is about as good as it was going to get, which is still thoroughly disappointing given the new information about which pick is heading to Orlando.
Grade: D+