Source: https://marcstein.substack.com/p/the-latest-from-nba-trade-season

> There were eight teams in the East with winning records as of Friday morning and, as the halfway point of the 2023-24 regular season nears, 19-15 Orlando is still one of them despite more pessimistic preseason forecasts.

> Wendell Carter Jr., meanwhile, has appeared in only 13 of the Magic’s first 34 games, losing 20 games to a fractured left hand and moving into a bench role upon his Dec. 20 return.

> Orlando’s frontcourt depth (via Paolo Banchero, brothers Franz and Moritz Wagner, frequent starter Goga Bitadze and Jonathan Isaac) and the eventual need to sign Banchero and Franz Wagner to lucrative extensions has led to the belief in some rival front offices that Carter is available in this trade window.

> As the league’s Feb. 8 trade deadline approaches, I keep hearing that Carter is a player to monitor.

8 comments

  1. As per usual the one place nobody is hearing anything from is our front office. Standard smoke.

  2. I’m all for it. Hasn’t contributed anything this season. We’ve seen we can win without him. If we can move him for shooters or pull off a solid package, do it.

  4. We have to keep wcj. His contract is too good to get rid of him. He was our best 3rd player last season

  5. If we are worried about having to pay our stars, having wendell for unders would be a good thing.

  7. I definitely think he is on the table but I dont know if they pull the trigger, yesterdays game would give me pause if I was them. That reliable shooting option off the bench with a Cole/AB playmaking shooting group is so useful. Once JI comes back, I wouldn’t even doubt they run a Moe/Caleb, JI, Wendell frontcourt sometimes and it can be great.

    Personally I would make a trade, this team is good they need to solidify the lineups. However, if they decide to run its course and figure things out we will still be a decent playoff team but I truly think Mosley is ruining the team with his favoritism the best lineups are simple to see but his eyes are clouded. I called it from the beginning of the season except I didn’t think Joe would be this good and impactful.

    The lineup has alot of flexibility that Mosley can use if he wants. Its really on Mosley on learning when to put pieces in and why he is doing it. AB/Markelle, Suggs, Franz, Paolo, Goga, with Cole, AB/Markelle, Joe/Caleb, Moe/JI/Wendell.

    The absolute best lineup with no movements or lets just call it the standard lineup, to me is the current SL with Markelle, Cole/Caleb, Joe/Caleb, JI/Moe, Wendell imo. 4 spacers with Markelle. Joe will also help playmake and get Markelle more use offball. Strong rollers also and good penetrators. They can use Moe or JI depending on the need offense or defense and Wendell despite not being a center gets an easier run usually vs bench bigs and more help compared to when he was starting as JI/Moe are better perimeter defenders than Paolo. I think this is the best arraignments, sometimes Joe wont get minutes because of rest and maybe Caleb/Gary(if forced)/Chuma/ Jett(hopefully) move up or they run the bench big 3. I truly think this team has fits and useable synergies but its alot of pieces.

    I would make the trade use Wendell, Markelle, and Gary, Get say Lavine (though thats probably not happening since Wendell been on a mission against Chicago) or Anferenee (probably not on available) and move AB/Suggs to the bench depending on the situation.

    New lineup hypothetically can be Suggs(primary)/AB, (Anf/Lavine/hypothetical good guard acquisition), Franz, Paolo, Goga with AB/Suggs, Cole, Joe/Caleb, JI, Moe. The bench frontcourt may need a cheap center to fill the void sometimes if JI rest or Caleb moves to the 4 position and Chuma/Jett comes in. AB however will be a great help on the boards at least with whoever and it will be AB/Suggs with 3 or more spacers.

  8. Availability is the best ability as a 6 seed we can retool through the draft we are projected to have 16th pick plenty of bigs should be available. I love WCJ because he plays inside out but bro plays 30 out 82 games

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