Orlando, FL– The NBA Draft Lottery was a huge disappointment for the Magic yet again. The team and its fan base badly wanted a top three pick in hopes of landing Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley or Jalen Green. Cunningham and Green in particular were two names that the fan base was really hoping to add to the Magic young roster as they seem like a perfect fit.
Unfortunately, the lottery did not end up working out for the Magic, as they saw their pick fall out of the top three and end up with the fifth pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Now the question becomes: should the Magic look to move up in the draft even if it costs them a lot or should they stay put and potentially draft two solid prospects with the fifth and the eighth pick?
First things first, let’s make one thing clear: the Magic have a very, very young roster. It will be very unlikely to see the Magic draft two more rookies in the upcoming draft. Also, let’s not forget the team also has the 33rd pick in the second round. This means, as of right now, the Magic have the chance to add three high quality prospects via the draft to add to an already young team. How will all these newly acquired players get minutes on a team that already has solid group of talented young players needing minutes in order to develop properly and gain NBA experience?
If the Magic go through pre-draft interviews and pre-draft workouts and come out of it impressed with a player like Jalen Green, then the best course of action for the Magic would be to do everything possible to move up in the draft. This means they know for a fact that a player like Jalen Green is what they need to continue to put the right pieces together to get this rebuild started the right way.
The Magic would need to possibly package both of this year’s first round picks and possibly more, such as expiring contracts in order to make a trade work. If the opportunity is there to make such a move, you do it and do not look back. It makes too much sense. The Magic would be adding a much needing scorer and a player with tremendous upside. Yes, the cost is very high, but as mentioned earlier, you cannot just keep adding young players to an already young team. At some point, it will harm the development of those who cannot get minutes and gain valuable NBA experience. For this reason, despite the high cost, you make the trade and embrace the arrival of Jalen Green.
Now, what if Cunningham goes number one and Green goes number two in the draft and the opportunity to move up is with a team like Cleveland who has the third pick? Now what? That’ll be an intriguing situation; it means the Magic can draft a player like Jalen Suggs or Evan Mobley. Would it still make sense to move up? Not really, unless the cost is not as steep. If that’s the scenario, the Magic should just stay put and draft a player like Jonathan Kuminga with the fifth pick and draft either Moses Moody or James Bouknight with the eight pick, if they’re still available. This would mean the Magic would have a lot of young players to develop at the same time, which is not an easy task to handle and will need to get addressed at some point in the near future. If the Magic go with this option, they would be delaying the inevitable, which is the need to trade some of their current youth for a solid face of the franchise type of player or a go-to scorer, which is the team’s current weakness.
Green and Cunningham are the two prospects that are worth trading multiple picks and other assets. Suggs and Mobley do not seem to fit in as well with the current roster or demand that type of asking price at this moment. They may end up being better players than those projected to be drafted in the top of the draft in the long run, who knows, but at this moment the Magic should only look to trade multiple assets if the return is Green or Cunningham.
by Al Grullon
June 28, 2021