I dunno if y'all have heard, but the NBA is desperate to keep SuperStars from jumping around too much.

New rules under the incoming CBA make "Designated Player Exemption" contracts utterly insane, meaning a team will be able to offer that player a truck-load of money to stay with the team. This will hinder other parts of the salary cap, sure, but we know this is a SuperStar league, so having that Star Player is the key to being a contender.

Now, this is great for teams like the Pelicans, that otherwise might be wary of Anthony Davis bolting when he becomes a FA. Now they have an added tool in their belt to incentivize him to stay -- and by tool, I mean heavy sacks with $ on the side. This is great for bad teams, who will have a better chance to retain their best draft picks. This is great for teams who already have a star player.

This is going to decimate a middling team without a Star Player. They likely won't get a good enough draft pick to find a player worth making a Designated Player, and now it's going to be even harder to entice one to join the team via Free Agency. In addition, the reduced risk of a Star Player fleeing in FA means its only going to get tougher to trade for one, as the flight-risk of a Star is a strong motivator for a team to trade them away before losing them for nothing.

That's why...it might be time for the Magic to bite the bullet, and flat out mortage their future to grab a Star Player now. Find a team that's middling, potentially trending down, and offer a few players and a LOAD of picks to see if they can get someone worthy of the DPE. Either that, or unload a group of players & future picks to get as high a pick as possible in one of the upcoming drafts -- in hopes of landing a Star Player that way.

2017 ORL 1st Round Pick, 2018 Right-to-Swap, 2019 ORL 1st Round Pick, 2019 LAL 1st Round Pick, 2020 Right-to-Swap

That's 3 picks outright, and 2 right-to-swaps.

Those, combined with multiple players (young and vets), hopefully can pry SOMEONE loose before it becomes near impossible. No player on the Magic should be considered "untouchable", but who you want to keep will depend on what Star/Pick they are going after.