Orlando Magic: Top 10 moments from 2017-18 NBA season
By Luke Duffy
8. Trading Elfrid Payton
Make no mistake, the Magic should not have moved Payton for a solitary second round pick in return from the Phoenix Suns right at the trade deadline. As much as he splits opinion, and despite being just as poor for the Suns, he still had to have netted a bit more than that.
Nevertheless, he is gone now, and that is a plus for this team in the long-term. It means the Magic can close the book on that failed part of their rebuild and move on.
As nice as it would have maybe been to have Payton re-signed to a team-friendly deal in the summer (he’s a restricted free agent), the Magic don’t need nightly reminders of how badly they’ve fluffed their lines in previous drafts.
Elfrid Payton finally cutting his hair should put one of NBA Twitter's greatest theories to the test.
— Peter Nygaard (@RetepAdam) April 14, 2018
Now, however, they can move on and hopefully add a top point guard prospect in this summer’s 2018 NBA Draft. That is something they haven’t had in a long time, with the last great point guard they had on the books being Jameer Nelson.
As beloved as he is in Orlando, and rightly so, Nelson was only a one-time All-Star himself, despite all the great times he helped bring to the city.
The organization gave Payton three-plus years to audition for that job, and he failed to convince anybody that he was the right person for it. There were some nice memories made, including Payton now being the all-time franchise leader in triple-doubles, but it was time for both player and team to move on.