Orlando Magic: Analyzing a LaMelo Ball-centric trade with the Warriors
By Luke Duffy
The Orlando Magic need to find ways to improve, and landing LaMelo Ball in this year’s draft through potential trade with the Golden State Warriors is one.
With the NBA season finally finished and the draft fast approaching, one organization that could do with getting involved in some trade chatter is the Orlando Magic. Back-to-back first-round exits in the playoffs, with no clear way of getting better with the core already in place, means they could do with raising their ceiling.
Quite how they do this though is another matter. Despite a front office that has done well with lottery picks in recent years, taking Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba, this season the Magic will pick 15th. Not that this is a bad thing either, that same front office also unearthed Wesley Iwundu in the second round a couple of years back too.
With this year’s draft class being touted as a weak one, there is a unique opportunity for the Magic to move up in the draft to take one of the few standout players who have emerged. This is especially true when you consider that the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors, owners of the first and second picks respectively.
One idea put forward by Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report would see the Magic engage in a trade with the Warriors centered around the second pick, which in this case we are taking to be LaMelo Ball. The Magic have long been a team in need of some star power to attract a waning fan base, and Ball certainly looks like he is going to be entertaining if nothing else. The deal would look like this.
But how would this hypothetical trade work out for both sides? Who stands to gain more, a Warriors organization that figure to be back in the playoff mix next season? Or a Magic franchise that needs all of the potential they can get to one day hopefully get close to the level of the Warriors?