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In an effort to add some balance to their roster, the Orlando Magic made a trade late Monday afternoon. According to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Magic are set to acquire Jarell Martin and cash from the Memphis Grizzlies. In exchange, the Magic are sending recently acquired big man Dakari Johnson to the Grizzlies.
Memphis has agreed to trade Jarrell Martin and cash to Orlando for Dakari Johnson, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 23, 2018
Martin, 24, is a Louisiana native who’s entering his fourth season in the NBA. The former Louisiana State product was drafted 25th by the Grizzlies in the 2015 NBA Draft.
Martin started 36 games for the Grizzlies last season, and set career highs in minutes per game (22.8), points per game (7.7), rebounds per game (4.4), and assists per game (1.0). Martin is a career 34% three-point shooter.
According to Basketball Reference, the 6-10 big man has logged nearly 70% of his career minutes in the NBA playing the power forward position.
This move provides the Magic with some much needed depth at the big forward position. Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac are both arguably best-suited to play the “four”, but the duo will very likely be playing some on the perimeter for the Magic next season as well.
Johnson, who was just acquired by the Magic only a couple days ago in a deal for Rodney Purvis, is likely to be waived by the Grizzlies.
Again, the move makes a lot of sense for the Magic; before this deal was announced, the Magic had five centers on the roster (Nikola Vucevic, Mohamed Bamba, Khem Birch, Timofey Mozgov, and Johnson).
Martin has one guaranteed year left on his rookie deal (this upcoming season). The Magic find themselves in a similar position with Martin as they do with Jerian Grant (who was acquired earlier this month). The front office has one season to evaluate them before determining if they fit with the organization long-term.
The Magic are also receiving cash from the Grizzlies in the deal.
Interestingly enough, the Magic are sending to Memphis (along with Johnson) the rights to Tyler Harvey. Orlando has owned the rights to Harvey since they drafted him in 2015 with the 51st pick (second round). Harvey, who has played with the Magic in past Summer League occasions, was never on Orlando’s active roster.