Orlando Magic: 3 reasons trading for Kemba Walker wouldn’t work

3. Trading away the future

Walker might be on an expiring contract, but the Hornets wouldn’t just give him up for nothing. Exactly what they would want in return we don’t know, but most packages would be too steep a price for the Magic to pay.

We can say this for a number of reasons. First, there is always a risk in trading away the future for a chance to win more games now. Second, the team has been bitten badly in the recent past by giving away players who had yet to fully develop. Tobias Harris and Victor Oladipo are the two most obvious examples of this.

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Finally, the idea of trading away a first round pick for Walker is risky as well, because the new front office has made some solid selections with its picks since being put in place.

Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba are the Magic’s last two lottery picks (and the first two since the new front office was put in place). Both look like the kind of versatile bigs who will be relevant in today’s NBA.

Adding a proven point guard to that mix may be tempting, but it would also involve giving up one of the aforementioned players, or else Aaron Gordon (whose salary would be difficult for the Hornets to bring on board). The only other alternative is draft picks, most likely a first-rounder.

Orlando really doesn’t have much else with which to make an enticing offer, which is why this is a bad idea — even more so when you consider Walker could leave for nothing next summer anyway.

Paul George may have bucked the trend recently when he decided to stay with a small-market team in the Oklahoma City Thunder, who traded for him as his contract was winding down.

But they have a shrewd general manager in Sam Presti, a playoff-caliber roster and Russell Westbrook. What do the Magic have that comes close?

2. Would the pieces fit?

Walker would obviously address the one glaring hole in the Magic’s roster right now, but beyond that, would he actually mesh well with the other players on the team? Last season, Orlando scored 393 points through isolation plays.

That number ranked 25th in the league. The Hornets? They scored 422, putting them one place above Orlando in 24th. For the Magic, 5.1 percent of their points scored came through isolation plays, while for the Hornets, it was 5.2 percent.

If the Magic are this close to Charlotte in this category without a dominant guard (which they lacked last season and definitely won’t have this year), what does adding a player like Walker achieve?

Orlando has been a poor team offensively for years now, ranking 28th in 3-point percentage last season (35.1 percent) and with an offensive rating of 102.8 (25th). Adding Walker may bump those numbers up a little, as he is a gifted offensive player, but would the team be playing much different offensively?

Surely the organization should be looking at re-inventing how the team plays offensively, with the defensive end going to take care of itself as head coach Steve Clifford instructs young standouts like Bamba and Isaac. Having the ball stick to Walker is not that.

A pass-first guard is not necessarily the answer either (look at Elfrid Payton‘s time with the Magic), but there will be younger players with more potential available if they wait just one more season. Locking themselves into a future of Walker, Gordon and one of Isaac/Bamba (one would probably have to go just to get Kemba), doesn’t inspire hope.