Orlando Magic: They won every major trade last season
By Luke Duffy
Trades the Orlando Magic won: 3. Nikola Vucevic to the Chicago Bulls
Starting with the biggest domino to fall, and moving on from Vucevic was a surprise to many. He had been a walking double-double in his time in Orlando and raised the floor as to how good the team could be. He also put a ceiling on the group too, which is the reason why the Magic ultimately moved on from him.
Fans of Vucevic were typically the type to defend him vehemently, so this deal didn’t thrill everybody. Even on the day, however, it looked like a move that made sense. It was the right time to pull the trigger and move on from a player who had given his all to the Magic, but whose trade value was never going to be higher.
The Magic received two lottery picks in 2021 and 2022 (with some protection), and fellow center Wedell Carter Jr. Right away Carter Jr. set about becoming the kind of young big man that the fans could get behind with effort and energy. He also was a better fit in terms of timeline alongside Isaac, Fultz, Chuma Okeke and Cole Anthony.
Carter Jr. also put more pressure on Mohamed Bamba to really fight for his place on the roster, which to his credit he did. Really though it was about the draft picks, and although Jalen Suggs was a pick the Magic would have been able to make anyway, adding Franz Wagner with the eighth pick in what was a deep draft as a result of the Vucevic trade was a lovely bonus.
It put the Magic in the enviable position of having a whole host of young players who they now have and who they hope at least one will rise to the level of superstar. The way too early prediction would be Suggs, but this front office has done a nice job of drafting since they took over, and it would be no surprise to see Wagner grow into a real contributor for them.
Better still is the fact there could be another lottery pick headed the Magic’s way next summer from the Bulls, to go with the one they’ll surely be picking up themselves. It was hard to see Vucevic go, but if you look at where the Magic are right now, this is a rebuild done correctly. Getting much younger and much worse, picking correctly and rising higher in the future. The front office nailed this trade at a time when Vucevic’s value was at its peak.