The Orlando Magic and the Memphis Grizzlies will have their first major trade in the NBA offseason, shaking the entire league.
On Sunday, the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic agreed to a deal to send shooting guard Desmondbane to Florida in exchange for Kentavia Caldwell Pope, Cole Anthony, four unprotected first-round picks and one first-round pick swap.
The addition of Caldwell-Pope and Anthony suggest that Grizzlies could remain competitive, but the Western Conference is still busy as ever, with the return of the four first-rounders showing Memphis poised to rebuild.
As the first deal in the offseason, Memphis and Orlando are clearly the most affected, but the rest of the league will feel a shock wave. Immediately after, three clear winners and losers appear.
Bane is a very good player and one of the best shooting games in the NBA, but he is probably not an All-Star, nor a franchise centerpiece. Still, the Grizzlies managed to land 4 Pick and swap, and two struggling security guards, Anthony and Caldwell Pope.
As the magic tries to win in the now weak East, the Grizzlies can take advantage of their despair and timeline, take a step back to the crowded west and prepare for a re-tool. They took the Grizzlies, but trade examined the New York Knicks’ decision.
Last offseason, New York sent five picks to Brooklyn Net at Mikal Bridges: Bojumbo Gdanovic, Mama Didia Kite, Shake Milton and Pickswap. Bridges like Bane are very good players, but they are not true “stars.”
Just like magic, the Knicks were desperate to add talent. And now they are not the only team to make that size trade for someone who is a very good role player at the end of the day in the past 365 days.
Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns have not made a huge hit deal, but it’s only a matter of time before Kevin Durant deals. Durant is aging and has a much worse contract than Bane, but even in his late 30s, he is a better player than Bane has ever been.
Phoenix had concerns that Durant would not get much of a return this offseason, but the trade between Orlando and Memphis will act as a barometer, setting a quality player asking price and possibly resetting the Sands’ trade market.
Depending on how you look at the deal, Ja Morant may have emerged as the winner, but one thing is clear. The clock is etched in his time in Memphis.
The KCP slows down performance in the first season of magic, sent to a team that is not very poised to win now, and if he can’t readjust the shape he deserves for the championship and the Grizzlies get off to a slow start, Morant might find himself in the trade block.
The change in the scenery may work, but he is still the face of the Grizzlies, and the team that trades for him makes him an eyeball rather than a complementary piece.
KCP and Morant are clear losers to take the demote and perhaps next side to get one.
Meanwhile, Magic finds himself in a similar place to the Knicks last season. They began five distinct cuts: Jalen Suggs, Bane, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter, reducing the depth like Knicks.
After New York was traded with the bridge, everything was saying about New York after it was now said for magic.
