Bleacher Report stirred up plenty of noise with a three-team mock deal that would ship Paolo Banchero out of Orlando and send him to Golden State, but the idea feels wildly off base for where the Magic are right now.
In the proposal, the Warriors land Banchero, AJ Green and Goga Bitadze, while Orlando gets Jimmy Butler, Yaxel Lendeborg and three future first-round picks. Milwaukee is pulled in as the third team, with the Magic sending Wendell Carter Jr. to the Bucks, and Milwaukee moving Green to Golden State.
For Golden State, the logic is easy enough to see. Stephen Curry gets another star next to him as the Warriors try to squeeze everything they can out of the final stretch of his career. Banchero would also give them a younger centerpiece to build around once Curry is done.
Orlando’s side is where the deal falls apart. The Magic would be giving up their cornerstone in Banchero, losing Carter and Bitadze from the frontcourt, and bringing back Butler, Lendeborg and draft picks in return. Bleacher Report framed the move as a way for Orlando to reshape an expensive roster and create more flexibility.
But flexibility only matters if it actually fits the team’s direction, and this one doesn’t. Orlando already made its win-now move by sending a strong amount of draft capital to get Desmond Bane, and there’s no sense in flipping a young star for an older Butler in the middle of that plan.
That concern only gets louder when you look at Butler’s age. He’s 37, and that doesn’t line up cleanly with the young core Orlando is trying to push forward with Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Bane.
The Magic, for now, are expected to keep that group together at least one more season, with Banchero still at the center of what they’re building under coach Sean Sweeney.
On a recent Full Court Magic Podcast, host Don Strouble talked about how important this season is for Orlando’s main pieces.
"I think that this season is going to be interesting in a lot of ways because this is kind of a put-up or shut-up year for this Magic team from an individual standpoint in terms of the players across the roster and the team as a collective. And while I do believe that Orlando-I don't think it reset its runway for contending, but I think that might have gotten a little more grace given that this is Sweeney's first year, he's a rookie head coach, things of that nature. But I think for the core as we know it of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Jalen Suggs-I won't include Desmond Bane because this is only year two for him-I think this really is such a pivotal year for this group because they need to show that they can hang around in an Eastern Conference that's only gotten more difficult."
"And Paolo has demonstrated that he is taking his offseason work very seriously. He said as much in a recent appearance on the Stephen A.
Smith Show. He said that this is the hardest he's worked in an offseason just trying to get his body right, trying to become more durable, and the Magic are going to need the best version of Paolo Banchero.
Shawn Sweeney specifically is going to need the best version of Paolo Banchero to succeed."
"This is a two-way street with these guys. I do believe that Paolo having a new coach will be beneficial for him just as it will for Franz and Jalen and Desmond, so on and so forth.
Because except for Desmond, these other three guys have only ever played under Jamahl Mosley in their NBA career, right? And so this is a really big transition for this group, but it's a two-way street.
Where we need to see the best version of Paolo, we need to see the best version of Franz, we need to see the best version of Jalen in the assistance that they will receive from Coach Sweeney, and then be able to reciprocate that in a way that is beneficial for the team and shows that what Sweeney is trying to do is paying off."
That’s the real story here: Orlando isn’t built to punt on Banchero just to chase a different timeline. The Magic’s direction is tied to him, and this mock trade runs straight against that reality.
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