The Magic have the opportunity to make some significant moves this summer. They have an incredibly talented young core, cap space, and trade assets. This summer seems like the perfect time to build a playoff powerhouse in Orlando.
It is easy to get swept up in all the excitement around the Magic’s young core and 2023-24 season success. As a result, the team has largely been linked to some of the bigger names on the market, like Paul George and Klay Thompson in free agency, and Dejounte Murray and Darius Garland via trades.
There are some other, less high-profile guys out there that could help the Magic, however. While free agency would be the simpler option to fill the team’s shooting and playmaking needs, the Magic might have to fall back on trades if free agency doesn’t go their way.
So, let’s look at three sleeper trade targets for the Magic to pursue.
3. Duncan Robinson
The Magic desperately need more shooting. That is unquestionably one of their biggest needs this summer. They were one of the worst shooting teams in the entire league all season long, struggling to stretch the floor.
The three players who attempted the most threes per game in the regular season were Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, and Paolo Banchero. This is not at all surprising, since those three are the team’s core. Out of that group, only Suggs shot the three well, however. Wagner and Banchero only shot 28.1 and 33.9 percent respectively.
So, the Magic need to add other reliable volume shooters. Duncan Robinson is just that. This season, he shot 39.5 percent from three on seven attempts per game and even shot over 40 percent for two seasons between 2019 and 2021.
Robinson might not be the flashiest name out there, but he is a great shooter and has expanded his skill set from being a pure three-point threat to putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim.
Just his presence would stretch the floor, and the Magic need someone like that to help with their offense next season. Obviously, Robinson is not the answer to every issue the Magic faced throughout the season. He could fill one specific role on the team very well, however.
The question is just whether the Miami Heat would even want to trade Robinson. He has been with the team his entire career and was one of their better scorers during the regular season.
2. Malcolm Brogdon
The Magic need someone to run the offense and get the ball to Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Even Banchero has said so, and not without good reason. Asking a 21-year-old to carry the brunt of the scoring load while also being the main playmaker is not fair.
So, this is something the Magic will have to address over the summer. They have been linked to Tyus Jones in free agency, who would certainly be a capable starting-level guard for them. When it comes to trade talks, bigger names have been thrown around, like Dejounte Murray and Darius Garland, for example.
Orlando and Portland have been linked in some Anfernee Simons trade rumors as well. Simons would be a great fit but he is not the only interesting player on the struggling Trail Balzers’ roster.
Malcolm Brogdon could make for a nice addition to this Magic team, too. HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto just recently mentioned that Brogdon is a player executives around the league are keeping an eye on in case the Blazers would be willing to move him.
Brogdon’s season was cut short by injuries—this has been a reoccurring theme with him throughout his career—but he has shown in several seasons already that he is a capable playmaker and three-point shooter. For his career, he averages 4.7 assists per game and 39.1 percent shooting from three.
Both are skills the Magic need. Brogdon could run the offense, stretch the floor, and provide some double-digit scoring while not taking too much away from the Magic’s main guys.
Defensively, he does not necessarily fit the Magic’s type of long, physical defenders but that is something they might just have to deal with to solve their offensive issues.
1. Jarrett Allen
Cleveland is buzzing with trade talk right now. After a rather disappointing playoff showing, rumor has it that either Darius Garland or Donovan Mitchell will be on the way out. Amidst all that, the Cavaliers’ center situation has not gotten as much attention as it might deserve.
Playing with two non-shooting bigs in today’s NBA is tough and the Cavaliers looked much better with only one of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley on the floor. Mobley has shown now that he can play the five, and that might leave Allen without a job in Cleveland.
If the Cavaliers make Allen available, he will likely draw plenty of interest from teams all around the league. The 26-year-old big man has proven himself as a strong rebounder, averaging double-digit rebounds three times in the last five years, and a rim protector. He is also an incredibly efficient scorer around the rim.
Even though shooting and playmaking have been mentioned widely as the biggest offseason needs, Orlando could also use a rim-protecting big who fits their defensive identity and can play above the rim.
His lack of a three-point shot would be a concern in Orlando as well, however. The Magic do not want to add a big man who doesn’t take threes to a lineup that already struggled to stretch the floor with Wendell Carter Jr.
Carter shot around 37 percent on 3.1 attempts per game. Replacing that with Jarrett Allen could only work if Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner improve from long-range and the Magic add more three-point threats to the mix.
It is certainly something to think about, though.
