The NBA trade season is officially open.
The Golden State Warriors made the first big move of the trade season, acquiring highly coveted guard Dennis Schroder right when trade season unofficially begins on Dec. 15. We are in the six-week countdown to the Feb. 6 trade deadline.
Every team is starting to align themselves as buyers and sellers in the market. Teams will spend the next two months assessing their roster and needs before the Playoffs.
The Orlando Magic are new to being buyers on the market. The team is winning and competing for homecourt advantage – tied in the standings for third with the New York Knicks and 1.5 games ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks for fourth. Orlando hopes to leap into title contention in the next few years – and when their two stars are finally healthy.
As the trade season begins, it is hard to get a sense of what is the Magic’s goal. Are they a team willing to sell out to supplement the roster before the Playoffs? Or are they willing to stick it out with a young roster and let things grow naturally?
That is the question many teams are asking themselves and will ask themselves during the next few months.
The Magic though are in a unique position. They are threading a very fine needle.
Orlando is a winning team. It would make sense the team would be trying to push to get better. The team should have ambitions to advance out of the first round and win a playoff series. To do that, the Magic must find better playmaking and more 3-point shooting. Those are obvious needs.
But the Magic are also a developing team. They are one of the youngest teams in the league. They still want to give young players like Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Anthony Black room to make mistakes and explore everything they can do.
President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has preached the team’s continuity. It does not seem like he is set to break things apart or throw a variable into the mix midseason. But he surely must also understand this is not a title-contending team yet. Even if they are moving in that direction.
Where does that leave the Magic at this year’s trade deadline then?
That probably leaves them still looking to be opportunistic. They are probably looking for ways to improve, but they are not going all-out to do so. One of their best trade assets in Wendell Carter does not become trade-eligible until the offseason and the Magic have two first-round picks owed to them in this year’s loaded 2025 draft class.
It is also probably too early to tell exactly what the Magic will do.
After all, they have seen only five games with Paolo Banchero. They have not seen what this team can do at full strength. And part of what Orlando has to do as it approaches February’s trade deadline is what this team looks like at full strength.
Franz Wagner could return in early February. But that will not give the Magic enough time to see the whole picture.
That points to the Magic waiting to see how the team plays out this season and how they react to the Playoffs again before making final decisions on the roster and how to continue building with it.
Orlando ultimately can sit back and wait too because the team is making the progress the team wanted to see. It has been a successful season to this point.
Still, a lot can happen in the next six weeks. Things change quickly in the league. The Magic are not about to become sellers and shed everyone on the roster. They are looking to make the roster better.
It is just a matter of time – at the deadline or not.
