The meteoric rise continues for the Orlando Magic this season as one of the NBA’s teams of the future.
After their groundbreaking campaign from last year, the Orlando Magic has gone even better this 2024-25 with an improved main core and reliable supporting cast. Despite the significant absences of their two main stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, Orlando made history and intriguingly remained afloat as a Top 4 team in the Eastern Conference with a 23-18 record.
As Banchero is now healthy while Wagner is slated to make his upcoming comeback after a brutal injury recovery, the Magic couldn’t be more thrilling to watch and compete the rest of the way.
What’s special about the Magic right now is that in the midst of their ongoing promise as a top young squad, they can still operate big-time moves and transactions to massively improve their contention position.
Orlando boasts one of the deepest rosters in the league. Besides, they have full control of all their draft picks for the next six years. From all of these, they can basically deliver a huge swing within the market and elevate their title hunt on a long-term vision.
As such, NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor is convinced that Zach LaVine is a logical piece to pursue for Orlando who could complete their championship puzzle.
“I love the idea of Zach LaVine on the Magic. I know he’d cost a hell of a lot, $43 million this year, $46 million next year, and then $49 million the year after that, but you got to pay somebody,” he said.
“That $49M a year, the last year of his deal, that’s going to be the first year of the Banchero rookie extension, so that’s really the only year you’d feel really screwed with salary numbers, but today and next season, you are talking about a guy who for Chicago, he’s back to the two-time All-Star.”
LaVine stands as one of the prime trade candidates this season. As the Chicago Bulls are set to commence a full fire sale ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline, he has been identified as a name to monitor around the NBA.
LaVine’s trade probability couldn’t be more enticing to pull for several rumored interested teams as he has been scorching this year. The two-time All-Star is witnessing a solid offensive campaign, tallying 24.0 points, 4.8 boards, and 4.4 assists while draining career-bests in field goal shooting (51.7%) and three-point rate (45.0%).
In a potential trade for LaVine, O’Connor proposed backup guard Cole Anthony as the main asset that the Magic may offer to the Bulls.
“24 points per game, six straight games scoring over 30 points with elite efficiency. Magic fans just saw Cole Anthony score 27 points once and they were like ‘Cole I’m sorry for doubting you’. But Cole is going to go back to his inefficient low scoring nights. Zach LaVine is not like that, he’s elite from every single zone,” O’Connor argued.
With his strong scoring reputation and elite shot-making, LaVine is simply an interesting star to pair and complement around Banchero and Wagner. By having the worst three-point efficiency this season of all 30 teams (30.8%), acquiring the hotshot guard can solve their shooting problems and be a spark plug for them in the said department.
For now, it is safe to assume that the Magic are in no rush to make a move considering their current position. But should circumstances arise and they are urged to land trades, they are simply ready to pull the trigger and perhaps go after the Bulls star.
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