Orlando Magic: Getting serious about signing D’Angelo Russell

Trade activity from the Brooklyn Nets means the potential for the Orlando Magic to sign D’Angelo Russell is stronger than ever.

Some eyebrow-raising trade activity from the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday saw them send Allen Crabbe, and more importantly, two first round picks, to the Atlanta Hawks for Taurean Prince. A move that on the surface does little to whet the appetite for what should be a blockbuster offseason, until you look at the bigger picture.

Prince is a solid NBA player, but giving up two first-round picks, as well as a serviceable guy like Crabbe, seems like a lot. That is until you consider that taking Crabbe’s $18.5 million salary for next season opens up two max player slots on their roster. That this has happened at a time when Kyrie Irving is apparently more willing than ever to sign in Brooklyn is huge.

Which is where the Orlando Magic enter the fray. Fresh off a season of exceeding expectations by finishing above .500, winning their division and making the playoffs, the franchise is in as good a place as they’ve been in a long time.

The temptation then could be to largely stay as they are and improve from within next season alongside some shrewd summer additions. The young core of Jonathan Isaac, who made strides in year two of his career, Aaron Gordon, who was flat out snubbed to not receive a single All-Defensive team vote, Mohamed Bamba and Markelle Fultz looks like a great place to start on paper.

Should the Magic also bring back All-Star Nikola Vucevic and sixth man Terrence Ross, they will enter the season with the kind of continuity across their roster, as well as at the head coach position with Steve Clifford, that other organizations would envy. That would be playing it safe, however, and a talent like Russell doesn’t become available every day.

The Los Angeles Lakers already look silly for already moving him to Brooklyn because of some immaturity during his early days in the league. Russell then became a first-time All-Star last season as he helped to carry the Nets to the playoffs. His kind of offensive play, which seems to go up a notch in fourth quarters, is something the Magic desperately need.

He’s a closer, whereas last year the Magic were finishing games by committee. Whether it was the biggest shot of D.J. Augustin’s career in a playoff win on the road against the Toronto Raptors or Ross and Evan Fournier stepping up with daggers, the role went undefined for the campaign.

Russell would bring much more than that, however, although it would mean saying goodbye to one of the Magic’s best players ever in Vucevic. The team can’t re-sign him and attempt to get Russell too, although bringing back Ross should be on their to-do list.

Vucevic was amazing last year, with career highs in points (20.8) and rebounds (12.0). He finished ninth among all players in Player Efficiency Rating at 25.5. Vucevic finishing ahead of bigger names such as Stephen Curry, Irving and Kevin Durant. He meant so much to the Magic but overpaying to keep him around only locks the organization into a future that likely has a defined ceiling.

As great as Vucevic was — his importance to the offensive side cannot be understated because of how skilled he is — he was nowhere to be found during the playoffs. A better team in the Raptors game-planned him off the court, and Vucevic went out with a whimper.

His 11.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game barely registering as the Magic went down in five games. So if they let him walk, going after Russell should be of the highest priority. He is the perfect fit both on the court and for the team’s big picture that it would be foolish not to offer him all the money they can to get him to Orlando.

Russell could only improve in the fantastic defensive structure coach Clifford has built, but that wouldn’t be why they’d be signing him. An All-Star at only 22, he averaged 21.1 points and 7.0 assists per game last season while shooting a career-high 36.9 percent from 3-point range.

With numbers like that at his age, the Nets seem foolish to even think about letting him go. They look to be shifting into win-now mode though, and it is fair to say Irving more closely fits what they’re trying to do right now.

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By letting Vucevic walk and adding Russell, the Magic would bring more balance to their roster. By drafting Isaac and Bamba to go with Vucevic and Khem Birch, there haven’t been enough minutes to go round. Only a season-ending injury to Bamba allowed the rotation to find itself, with Birch a wrecking ball defensively when given more run.

Beginning next season with Birch as the starter and Bamba backing him up makes sense, with the two swapping roles as Bamba hopefully begins to turn into the player that saw him taken sixth overall in 2018. Russell then would bolster the guard rotation greatly, a place of such weakness for the Magic but which they worked admirably to rectify last season.

Fultz is still a great unknown, and although playing in Orlando seems to be the perfect place to resurrect his career, there is still an expectation from Magic fans that when he is finally healthy that he will be good right away. If he were to back up somebody like Russell, a budding star who can take all of the pressure off of Fultz, that would be even better for him.

Guys like Michael Carter-Williams, who was integral to the Magic getting over the line to the playoffs, and the beloved Augustin, would likely have to be sacrificed, but it would be worth it. A talent like Russell doesn’t come along often, and even better he aligns with where the core is at right now.

The Magic are young and up and coming with no pressure to be a contender in the next couple of years but with the potential to one day hopefully get there. Free agents have never been known to actively seek out Orlando as a destination. Russell is the rare exception, somebody who is still young enough to move on if he doesn’t like how this next phase of his career works out in Orlando.

He’d also be arriving with a chip on his shoulder having been unfairly moved for the second time in his career and would know he has the players around him to be on the fringes of being the next elite team in the weaker Eastern Conference.

This is a move that makes perfect sense for both parties, and while Russell will have no shortage of admirers and could be brought back by the Nets as a restricted free agent, this is the player the Orlando Magic need to go hardest after this summer. He fits too well with where they’re at right now who ordinarily wouldn’t be available if not for a unique set of circumstances.