Fanpost: A Hail Mary Three-Team Trade

Every now and then, we will highlight and promote some of the more creative and Fanposts from the site. The following post was originally made by Tyga Would on June 9.

By Tyga Would

Ok, the NBA season is officially over now. But for Orlando’s faithful, it’s been over since like late December-January, so you’ve had much of the season to follow some other storylines while envisioning, thinking, dreaming of your beloved Magic becoming a competitive team again in this new era NBA. All of us wheelchair GMs have come up with “great” ideas and scenarios to put Orlando back on track as a winning, perennial playoff, even championship aspiring team. The actual GMs organization have not executed as good of a job as some of us would have. Some of us agree, they’ve prematurely traded for/away many of the wrong players, attempting to force a playoff product. A lot has been said about Orlando not actually going full rebuild, overhaul to get as much youthful talent possible. And though they may continue with the same (from what it seems) “let’s make the playoffs this year” driven attitude, I have a scenario and question for you all. Straight to it...

First and foremost, the draft. IMO Orlando should look to go big/aggressive to hit in what’s shaping up to be a nice draft class. I say Orlando facilitate a three-team draft night deal with the Grizzlies and Clippers to add another lottery pick.

The trade...

Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Clippers receive B. McLemore (from Grizzlies), T. Ross (from Magic), N. Vucevic (from Magic), and MAYBE a future pick from the Magic

Grizzlies receive M. Teodosic (from Clippers), E. Fournier (from Magic), J. Simmons (from Magic), 13th pick (Clippers)

Magic receive D. Gallinari (from Clippers), C. Parsons (from Grizzlies), 4th pick (from Grizzlies)

Whoa, whoa, whoa!!! I know you see Gallinari and Parsons with both their huge contracts and might immediately pass out, but hold on stay with me. We’ll get to that. And for what it’s worth, this trade works and actually improves both the Clippers and Grizzlies.

But aside from that, my reasoning Clippers make the deal is because they get to get off that big contract of Danilo. They‘re capped out, so they won’t be players in Free Agency, but get to add some veterans to keep them in playoff contention. All three on EXPIRING deals, which could be huge for them (L.A.) setting up next offseason. T. Ross brings some scoring, wing depth. Vucevic provides either Center insurance if D. Jordan was to leave or provide huge bench presence behind Jordan. Doc gets a shot at bringing out the best of B. McLemore. And they also still get to add a young talent (C. Sexton, Miles or Mikal Bridges, K. Knox, L. Walker, etc.) with the other lottery pick.

I believe the Grizzlies accept the deal because just like the Clippers, they get away from a big contract. They get two wings that would both probably start and excel in roles next to the stars M. Conley and M. Gasol, allowing them to chase their playoff dreams. And they also still get to add a young talent (Knox, either of the Bridges, etc.) as well this draft instead of settling for a future pick.

Now you guys, about Gallinari and Parsons and their contracts... Forget them! Well not actually, but the contracts should not worry Orlando, who aren’t like to be a FA attraction for at least the next season or two anyway. The contracts don’t even guarantee the larger bulk of minutes in the rotation. And the respective players themselves can be used to aid the development of the younger guys, by providing spacing throughout the rotation. But the big gain here for Orlando is obviously the 4th pick to add with the 6th pick for the rebuilding team in this deal. My prediction of the 1-3 picks in the draft goes Ayton, Doncic, Bagley. Magic draft M. Porter Jr. 4th and T. Young 6th. That gives Orlando a combination of BPA (IMO) and team needs. Two go to scorers (in a year or few), and a lead PG to make the new core 4 along with A. Gordon and J. Isaac.

Free Agency, match/sign AG, grab Point Guard VanVleet. MAYBE keep Hezonja or sign some league min vets that fit the roster.

The final roster should look something like this

T. Young

M. Porter Jr.

A. Gordon

J. Isaac

B. Biyombo

VanVleet

M. Hezonja or low usage vet

C. Parsons

D. Gallinari

K. Birch

Think young Celtics team 1st and 2nd rounds of the playoffs. Even 76ers. But Yes! Embrace the rebuild. Commit to it. I’d even dare to say start (or at least play heavy minutes) D. Gallinari at Center with those guys to make a real position-less team with a little bit of everything you need. He’s no shot blocker by any means (0.5 Bpg), but neither are players like M. Gortat (0.7), N. Jokic (0.8), just to name a couple. But has the size, and only would need good defensive rotation ability along with the three other young athletic 6’10” players to protect the rim by committee (Gordon 0.8, Isaac 1.1). The advantage would come on offensive end, utilizing Danilo as a stretch 5 which he has often been used the past couple seasons. That allows the young core to grow, develop a couple seasons with the proper spacing. We can debate about the pros and cons of that and any other flaws you see in this idea. But another beauty of this offseason idea is that in two seasons the Magic have over 60 million in cap space(Gallinari, Parsons, Biyombo) coming, with three guys still on rookie contracts, and AG only half way thru his new deal. So, tell me would you get on board with this offseason or what you would do to tweak it.