GAMECHANGER: BOLD move for Desmond Bane RESHAPES Orlando Magic’s NBA title hopes

GAMECHANGER: BOLD move for Desmond Bane RESHAPES Orlando Magic’s NBA title hopes

jeff Welman made a promise about the future of the Orlando Magic after their season ended Today he what the Magic’s acquisition of Desmond Bane means and so much more today on Locked on Magic You are Locked On Magic Your daily Orlando Magic podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day And you are indeed locked on Magic Today is June 15th It will eventually be June 16th 2025 but we’re coming to you early if you’re listening live because the Orlando Magic have broken the internet They have done the they have fired the first shot of the NBA offseason off Desmond Bane from the Memphis Grizzlies for Cowwell Pope Cole Anthony four first round picks and a pick swap We’ll break it all down what it means for the here in just a moment But first we want to thank you for making Lockdown Magic part of your day every day No matter when you listen to us whether it’s first thing in the morning whether it’s right when we upload we truly appreciate you making Lockdown Magic part of your day every day If you’re one of our everydayers we appreciate you listening every day If you’re just popping in for breaking news we truly appreciate that If you’re listening to us Monday afternoon instead of Sunday afternoon we appreciate that Be sure to check out all the great podcasts on the Locked On Podcast Network our friends locked on Grizzlies who who I hope to have on the show later this week break down the trade from their perspective Locked on Thunder locked on Pacers have you covered for the NBA Finals A locked on podcast network It’s your team every day Today’s episode of Locked On Magic is brought to you by FanDuel Right now new customers will get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins back at exit interviews You could go back to my archives and listen to the pod You could go back to any of the articles I wrote or any of the sound from exit reviews Jeff Welman came in front of us One of the few times he speaks to the media came in front of us and said “We’re in a new phase We are entering a new era of Magic Basketball We are entering a win now phase of this rebuild.” He said that moves would be made with a win now lens that the Magic might be willing to sacrifice some of their defensive identity to improve their offense That was all put on the table That was all clearly established clearly meed out clearly stated It was the driving force of the season The reason why we thought the Magic would do something big was because Jeff Welman the guy in charge the president of basketball operations said they’re going to do something big They’re going to begin to transform this offense or to transform this team and push them to the next level For the last two seasons the Orlando Magic showed their potential Paulo Vanero and France Vagner continued to improve at a steady pace They both if not for injuries would have had real cases to be all-stars If not for the injuries this season perhaps the Magic would have competed for the fourth or the five seat They would have been able to still accomplish all their goals So on one hand the Magic are sitting there thinking “We have enough to accomplish our goals.” But on the other hand they looked at the playoffs a relatively healthy team obviously without Jaylen Suggs without without some key players but they looked at their team and said “This isn’t good enough to be the 27th offense in the league the worst three-point shooting team in the league We can’t compete with a championship level team like the Boston Celtics not in a serious way at least without something more.” That was the undeniable conclusion coming out of the Magic’s 2025 season That was the undeniable thing that we all saw The Magic needed more They needed more offense They needed more creation They needed more playmaking They needed more shooting And there was no way the Orlando Magic were going to be able to just spin this As much as Jeff Waltman loves continuity and continuity is important I I would not expect what we’re going to talk about for the rest of the show to instantly work It’s going to take some time but the magic understood inherently they had taken this group as far as they were going to go And if Paulo Beno and Fran Vagger are truly the core of a championship team they needed more support They needed more help especially on the offensive end And that was the prelude to today While a lot of us were focused on point guards Anthony Simons Colin Ston we talked about Jordan Pool on Friday on all of these guards and expected the Magic to make a real push to add a legitimate point guard maybe slide Jaylen Slugs back to the two Instead the Magic looked at their roster looked at their philosophy and said “We believe in what we’re building Let’s double down on it Now that is partially what they did when they acquired and signed Contavius Cwell Pope last off seasonason when they had a clear need for a point guard But let’s make this clear Desmond Bane is different Desmond Bane is not a Contavius Calwell Pope clone Desmond Bane has played the lead guard and lead playmaker role before Maybe not crazy successfully with John Morant out but he is someone that can attack off the dribble and make passes He is someone who is one of the elite catch and shoot three-point shooters in the league that has maybe had to do more playmaking than needed So now the Magic instead have looked at their team looked at their philosophy looked at what they built and said “Let’s find a player who is elite at those things and not compromise anywhere.” On its face yes the Magic gave up a lot for for Desmond Bane here Absolutely The magic We’re going to talk more about what Desmond Bane brings and why he checks so many boxes here in about four minutes We’re going to get to that in our next segment But the Magic looked at themselves first looked at who they are the things that they value and said “We can find that somewhere else We can find a player that fits that culture that identity that makes us better because he is of us.” And that’s what they did with Desmond Bane Now this the price tag is immense Gavius Calwell Pope was a starter a a big free agent acquisition who became a little bit of dead weight because he just had the one of the worst seasons of his career Cole Anthony is a valuable and prized bench player who has been as important to this team’s culture as anything else And I do want to address what the Magic are losing in this trade uh in a future episode We’ll probably hit that tomorrow I want to give Cole Anthony his flowers That guy that guy is a Magic legend forever Always welcome at the Kia Summit Um the Magic gave up four first round picks The number 16 pick in this year’s draft next year’s pick which is that weird Phoenix pick swap pick that we no longer have to worry about Um they’re giving up the uh they’re giving up a 2028 first round pick a 2030 first round pick and then a pick swap that is top two protected in 2029 The four first round picks plus a pick swap is definitely sticker shock But I I’ve seen this compared elsewhere If the Magic do this right if this is the deal that puts the Magic over the over the hill over the hump over the top if this is that deal those picks are going to be in the late 20s anyway They’re going to be above 20 anyway And yeah you can still get value there Absolutely But that’s that’s you shouldn’t be losing too much sleep over that especially with how bloated the Magic roster is right now how how full it is And the fact that yeah the Magic can acquire picks elsewhere They can move around elsewhere They to the Magic they got the missing piece The best comparison I saw to this was Rudy Gobear Now Rudy Goar going for five first round picks was a lot but go ask our friends at Locked on Wolves how they feel about it Back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances Yeah they’re still trying to get over the hump and into the championship into the finals but it’s hard to not call the Rudy Goar trade an absolute success Talk to our friends at Lockdown Knicks They gave up four first round picks for Muel Bridges The Knicks made the conference finals for all the ups and downs of their season and certainly now the ups and downs of a coaching search that feels a little unnecessary but they would do that trade again in a heartbeat This is what the Magic are hoping for We have been waiting for the Magic to put some skin in the game to take a risk to push those chips to the middle and the Magic could still do more By the way they still have the ability to make trades I don’t think they’re necessarily done But that’s what the Magic did They looked at their core They looked at their two best players They looked at their three best players and said “We’re missing one giant piece to get us over the hump.” And if we can acquire that without giving up our core three players without giving up those best players we’re going to put those chips in the middle So is Desmond Bane the right player to do that for in a lot of ways yes Because as I mentioned Desmond Bane very much is a magic player We’re going to chat about what Desmond Brain what Desmond Bane brings to the team coming up here in just a moment But first today’s episode of Locked On Magic is brought to you by our friends over at Monarch Money Ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go between dining out online shopping and entertainment plus making trades for that involve multiple first round picks it’s easy to lose track That’s where Monarch Money comes in Your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances The Magic might need that considering there are going to be a second apron team in 2027 Monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app It’s a complete financial command center You can track all your accounts investments and spending in one place so you stop just managing your money and start building wealth When you start using Monarch Money you realize just how much you’re spending on food delivery and stuff like that So you can budget smarter and save more Plus instead of juggling multiple apps or using an Excel spreadsheet like I do some like I used to do you can use Monarch to check your finances track spending and even plan long-term goals Managing money with your partner smoother than ever You can track track shared and personal accounts set goals and stay on the same page without the stress Take control of your finances with Monarch Money Use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year That’s monarchoney.com code locked on NBA for half off your first year So what are the Magic getting in Desmond Bay like I I think again the headline in the story today is the Magic pushed their chips in The Orlando Magic made a bold move again first first shot of the off season We all thought it was going to be the Kevin Durant trade The Magic steal the headlines and make the first big move of the offseason to make a declaration of intent for the upcoming season So what are the Magic getting in Desmond Bane what is who is this guy that the team is getting first off if you listen to our friends at locked on Grizzlies um they do great they put in a great perspective on Desmond Bane and what that what they are losing That is a guy that is beloved by a lot of fans in Memphis Uh beloved in that locker room but first and foremost he is a guy that that seems like he is a team guy and a team and a locker a good locker room presence So I think that is the first place to start We know the Magic are looking for those kinds of high character guys high basketball IQ high character or something that this team is really stressed and is probably one of the reasons why we were looking at the wrong kinds of players Um you know because we’re so focused on point guards looking at the wrong kinds of players as we began assessing this offseason But let’s just look at the basic stats for Desmond Bane Desmond Bane last year had a bit of a down year 19.2 points per game Uh averaged a shot averaged uh shot 48.4% from three and 39.2% from or 48.4% 4% from four excuse me 39.2% from three If he shot 48.4% from three we’d be over the moon doing back flips right now 39.2% We’re still doing back flips Um he shot 6.1 three-point attempts per game And I think this is where we have to be really uh really stress this part Don’t just look at last year Last year was a really encouraging improved season for him A really encouraging season for him but it was a bit of a step back In 2024 he averaged 23.7 points per game and shot 38.1% on 8.6 three-point attempts per game The year before 2023 40.8% from three on seven three-point attempts per game There there might be an accusation that the Magic just swapped Kavius Cwell Pope for Desmond B Kavius Cwell Pope averaged about five three-point attempts per game One thing we have all stressed is the Magic need to get a volume three-point shooter Someone who’s going to take a lot of threes Last year was a down year at 6.1 the fewest three-point attempts per game that Desmond Bane has taken since his rookie season And a lot of that can be explained by the fact that Bane took on a bigger onball role last year In addition to those 19.2 points per game he averaged 6.1 rebounds per game That was a careerhigh as well as 5.3 assists per game Second straight season with more than five assists per game His usage rate last year sat at 23.3% Um slightly below 20 and a half% the year before 26.1% the year before that In addition Desmond Bane is one of the elite catch and shoot three-point shooters in the league He was really literally like one of the best one of the absolute best shooters in the league really throughout his career has been one of the best shooters in the league He averaged about 2.7 catch and shoot three-point attempts per game last year but shot 42.3% on those shots For reference likeavius call Pope last year like he was like 38 39% uh in Denver Last year he was at like 35% Like obviously the Magic want you know we talked about this about how the Magic can improve their three-point shooting They get a lot of these catch and shoot three-point shots They get a lot of these corner threes In fact let me see if I can find corner threes here Give me a sec to see if I can find it Got a shooting Um last year Desmond Bane shot what is it 26 of 83 on corner threes So not a great corner three-point shooter More of above the break but but again we’re talking about feet set If you rotate the ball and pass the ball to him this is a guy that’s going to make that shot and make it more often than not and take a lot of these shots On top of this those assist numbers are really encouraging to look at Now a lot of them came because of John Mar’s injury So John was out of the lineup Desmond Bane kind of took on a more primary scoring role and that was a big piece of this puzzle If there is a criticism of this move it is that it does signal and mean the Magic are not going after a true point guard that the Magic are going to kind of settle in with the same lineup Jaylen Suggs Desmond Bean Fran Vager Palabancer Wendell Cart The difference here now is though that Contavius Cwell Pope was not a dynamic offensive player And that was a fair criticism of the signing of Contavius Ko Pope I’m sure I made that criticism last year If I didn’t I’m making it now in hindsight with 2020 vision Um the biggest issue with signing a Davis Cwell Pope was that he wasn’t necessarily a volume shooter You thought you could get a little bit more out of him and create a little bit more space but he also wasn’t much of an attacker In fact like when KCP when Kenny started to get a little bit more of a rhythm He was attacking a little bit off the dribble and he kind of understood like I have to attack a little bit more Desmond Bane does that And not only can Desmond Bane do that he can dish back out So if there is a silver lining to the point guard question maybe the Magic do need to solve the point guard question and we’ll debate that over the next several weeks and months before the season begins the one thing that this move will do is it kind of spreads that responsibility out It’s not just Paulo it’s not just France it’s not just Jaylen it’s all three of them and now Desmond Bane also doing that And so there you know and and on top of that Desmond Bane is a guy that could score a lot of points He had six 30-point games last year He’s had a 47 point game in his career He had a 40-point game last year This a guy that can put the ball in the basket So the Magic have another legitimate 20 point per game scoreer on their team Now is everyone going to average 20 points per game this season no But now the magic of another guy that can get hot that they can feed the ball to and ease that pressure on Paulo and Fron to carry the whole weight The end of the day the more scorers you have the more responsibility you have the more space that you have the easier it’s going to be for everybody else So you got a player who is six foot five six foot six playing shooting guard 215 pounds big guy a willing defender I I don’t know if he is necessarily a great defender Um I don’t necessarily think I I don’t necessarily know if he is uh like one of the like going to be a plus defender Certainly this is a defensive downgrade from Sculp but he is a willing defender He’s going to fit into what the Magic are trying to do defensively and he’s going to be capable of handling his responsibilities He’ll be able to switch onto onto wings and forwards as well This just checks so many of the boxes that Magic Light And the only reason I think maybe we passed on thinking about Desmond Bane was the price He’s going to make $33 million next year I believe is he’s got four years left on his deal He’ll top over $40 million by the end of his contract And so the price is ultimately like oh the Magic aren’t willing to go into the second apron The Magic aren’t willing to pay that much That might actually have been the benefit And and because like if you look at some of the other players we’re thinking about a lot of them were expiring contracts that we were like I don’t I don’t I just don’t know if the Magic are going to go for that or the Magic want that or or you know then the Magic have to figure out how much they’re worth and pay that much for them Desmond Bane’s now cost controlled for four more years Um it’s a lot of money and apron team now They are a second apron team coming up in 2027 at the very least probably a little bit more beyond that But Bane just on the court checks so many boxes that the Magic need Another potential playmaker another potential scorer another guy who could create his own shot an excellent catch and shoot three-point shooter and three-point reliever Uh a willing and able defender This is what the Magic have always liked And so you may not check that point guard box The Magic may not get everything they want but at the end of the day this is the conclusion you have to ask yourself Are the Magic better today than they were yesterday does this trade make the Magic better and I think undeniably that answer is yes Undeniably the Magic are better today There are other things to consider There’s still more work to do this off season but Desmond Bane makes this team better And what we’re focused on is the finals is whether this will make the Magic a championship level team Some thoughts on that and game four of the NBA Finals coming up here in just a moment But first today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to our friends over at FanDuel The NBA finals are in full swing and every game is delivering highlight worthy performances major momentum shifts and can’t miss moments Whether it’s a game-winning shot or a breakout player there’s never been a better time to get in on the action FanDuel makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live with player props performance trends and same game parlays Fans have more ways than ever to play smart and win big You never know which player is going to show up in the big moments but when you get that hunch and you see that bubble percolating tracking those strengths can help you build your next bet And you can combine these live prop bets midame based on how the action unfolds If you’re new to FanDuel it is the perfect time to sign up Head to FanDuel.com and place your first $5 bet If it wins you’ll get $200 in bonus bets Make every moment more with FanDuel official sports betting partner of the NBA Ultimately everything the Magic are doing is with an eye on what’s going on in Oklahoma City and Indianapolis At the end of the day the reason you make a trade like the Magic have still only reportedly leak sources have confirmed that it’s happening but but it’s not official as of recording unless my email says otherwise Let me check check to make sure Let me check to see if it’s been made official Uh not official yet Not official yet Um but but uh uh the reason you make this trade is to get yourself closer or because you think you are close enough to make a move toward a championship Like that’s why you do this deal We’ve talked kind of endlessly about this The Eastern Conference feels wide open right now The Boston Celtics are taking a step back You know Cleveland Cavaliers will be back in full force but you know they they look weak They they they they they had this crazy regular season then fell in the second round The Milwaukee Bucks could be taking will certainly be taking a step back with Damen Lillard out with an injury The New York Knicks will be working in a new coach The Indiana Pacers while deserving of all of our respect and and probably not being brushed aside too too easily as an upstart team when they are legitimately that good The Pacers are a team that the Magic match up really well with and frankly trading for Desmond Bane doesn’t change that The Pistons are a nice upand cominging team and the Magic kind of had to do something to keep up with the Joneses If Miami is going to go after Kevin Durant the Magic kind of needed to do this or do something big like this to make to to plant their flag as one of the top teams in the East Ultimately what you’re seeing in these playoffs and in these finals especially is that it takes having multiple guys who can score and create to be successful Look Shay Gildis Alexander was absolutely brilliant to end game four That fourth quarter 15 points carrying the thunder making no shots The Magic at least believe they have that guy Now if Paulo B who knows if Paul Beno will get to that level of consist consistency at that stage certainly like game four was a step back Game four was kind of a learning lesson for him Jason Tatum outdooled him He had a duel with Anthony Edwards late in the season Palo Ben Caro is that guy for Orlando orlando at least feels like they have that number one guy But why did Oklahoma City win game four well yeah Shay got them there Jaylen Williams with 27 points 11 free throw attempts Alex Caruso 20 points two for uh five for seven from the foul line Why is Indiana in this series because Indiana has always been one of the deepest teams in the league They got 17 from Obie Topphen in game four They got the big game from TJ McConnell in game three And while yes the stars have to carry their weight and Tyrese Hallebertton taking a lot of heat for game four If you look at the Pacers five players in double figures Aaron Nith had eight TJ McConnell had eight Ben Mathan after his big game in game three had eight He makes a couple free throws like he should have And look heartbreaks for anybody that misses free throw misses big free throws in a finals game It stinks that that that that’s not how you want to lose Magic have lost two critical finals games on the foul line like that It takes a full team offensive effort to win these highlevel games And honestly like we all know it the Magic’s problem has been their offense They are they have not had a they have not had an offense outside the bottom 10 in 12 years I was on the record I thought last year was gonna be they they broke that streak freezing cold take this episode market that streak ends because of Desmond Bane because of acquiring Desmond Bane They will not be that bad on offense because Desmond Bane gives them something that they need and they need a guy who’s going to step up to the plate who’s going to be able to have games where he takes over The Magic need more guys who can just give you that offensive spark And that’s why we were looking at Anthony Simons or Jordan Pool or even a Colin Ston or an Austin Reeves We were looking at those guys because we felt they could give the team a spark They could go off for a random 30point game Cole Anthony could do that too just not consistently and certainly not in the playoffs where it really matters I know Bane’s coming off of a poor playoff showing for Memphis against these Oklahoma City Thunder and that is something to consider as well but he averaged 23 and a half points per game in last year’s playoff series for Memphis He averaged 18.8 in the 2022 playoffs when the Grizzlies got to the second round Shot 48.9% from three on 7.3 attempts per game in those 2022 playoffs Bit of a mixed bag for Bane’s playoff record but guess what he’s going to have Powell and Fron taking attention away from him He’s gonna have Jaylen Suggs to help take attention away from him Ultimately it’s all this symbiotic relationship Yeah Paulo and Fron are going to be the engines driving this thing but New York doesn’t make the conference finals without Macau Burgess and what he gave them offensively helping Jaylen Brunson They don’t get there without OG Anobi The Magic always needed to make a bold offensive trade And the fact that they found something that also seems to fit all their other various identities while also seemingly improving your offense again we don’t know We’ll find out in October This is what the Magic were missing and why they look so different than these teams we’re watching in the NBA Finals Now maybe the Magic have a multi-pronged offensive attack Paulo and Fron will always be there They will always be there and they’ll step up when they need to step up But now what the Magic have is oh Fron is having one of his bad games They happen occasionally Desmond Bane picks up the slack and drop and gives us 20 2122 Oh Paulo is struggling from the foul line this game or or or struggling with those mid-range jumpers Okay then that double comes He kicks out to Desmond Bane Bane’s there to make the three And you know hopefully Fron is there to to starts making threes Jaylen’s there to make threes All of it helps Paulo and Fron be the best versions of themselves The kind of versions the kind of players the Magic clearly think can lead them to a championship That’s what Oklahoma City has had And and frankly where Oklahoma City has struggled in this series is when they lose trust in their shooters When Sheay settles for a mid-range jumper instead of passing it to passing it to the open shooter guess what that was the Magic’s problem all year We’d watch Paulo settle for a mid-range jumper and not pass to an open shooter because it made sense that that mid-range jumper was a better shot than an open three-pointer because the Magic weren’t making them Maybe Desmond Bane fixes that problem Maybe Desmond Bane makes that problem go away And now the Magic are ready to compete at this high level That’s what this is all about That’s where the Magic were going That’s where the Magic were heading with this move And I look at this Magic roster again Just just let’s just look at the starting lineup Jaylen Suggs Desmond Bane Fron Vagner Paulo Banero Wendell Carter That’s two allstars in Paulo and Fron That’s a guy who’s been a near all-star in Desmond Bane another 20 points per game score A and frankly a little bit of an offensive wild card in Jaylen Suggs who averaged 16 17 points per game If we just look at this year’s averages Paulo averaged 2526 Fron’s averaged 24-25 Bane averaged 1920 Jaylen Suggs was 1617 Fill that roster with some more shooting Maybe Anthony Black bumps up to 1011 Movager wakes up scoring 10 points when he when he’s back from injury Wendell Carter will get you eight or nine maybe 10 12 per game All of a sudden the numbers start to add up The numbers start to start to mean you’re scoring a little a few more points and you’ve got an elite defense That’s the ticket to the second round That’s the ticket to the conference finals The Magic at this point might have the best healthy duo in the Eastern Conference Yeah Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown I’m giving you that one You could argue with me Dar uh Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley I’m not going to sit here and argue that the Magic certainly have one of the top three duos in the Eastern Conference They now might have if not the best I’ll give Cleveland I’ll give Boston credit they might now have one of the three or four best third and fourth guys in in the Eastern Conference too The Magic are coming for the Eastern Conference trophy the Larry Bird Trophy I believe they’re coming for and that only happens because they made this deal today I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Locked on Magic You of course find me on Twitter philipr_omd and on blue sky phiprr You can subscribe to the podcast and Apple podcast tune in Google Play Odyssey and all you download podcast to your podcast enabled listening device You can also check us out on YouTube Search for Locked on Magic For the latest on the Orlando Magic be sure to check out orlandomagicdaily.com You can find us on Twitter Omagic Daily And for even more Orlando Magic content be sure to check out my Patreon page Orlando Magic Hub I will be doing a video breakdown of Desmond Bay I’m literally going to record that and write that after I’m done posting this episode So go to my Patreon page patreon.com/orland Magicub subscribe or buy the article when it when it’s up uh to get a video breakdown of Desmond Bane start diving into him a little bit more on that that channel Thank you all as always for your support Now that you’re done listening to Locked on Magic making it your first listen of the day go make your second listen The 2025 Lockdown NBA mockdraft It’s a five episode series with most comprehensive NBA draft analysis from NBA experts to college experts and NBA draft experts Find the 2025 locked on NBA mockdraft on NBA Big Board and Locked on NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast I will preemptively apologize We did this mockdraft several weeks ago Um I traded the 16th pick for Andrew Simon So I think some of the analysis still stands but obviously a lot has changed Certainly my pick at 25 now makes a lot more sense And we’ll talk about what the Magic should do at 25 later on in the week This will be a busy week on Lockdown Magic So definitely subscribe to Lockdown Magic Tomorrow I am planning to break down what’s left in the Magic roster what the Magic have left to do this offseason We’ll talk a little bit more about what the Magic are losing in Contavius Cwell Pope and Cole Anthony I especially want to talk about Cole Anthony I am planning to talk about Jace Richardson and Walter Clayton later this week as well Uh I want to talk about France Vagner and him trying to rediscover his shot We’ll get to that NBA Finals talk So much more trade aftermath Going to try and have the locked on Grizzlies guys on the show as well this week So very very busy week here on Locked on Magic Of course next week is draft week So we’re like right into the thick of things here in the NBA offseason But I want to thank you all for listening to today’s episode of Locked On Magic for Orlando Magic Daily and Locked On Magic This has been Philip Rossen Reich See you again next time for another episode of Locked On Magic

The Orlando Magic promised to make a bold win-now move to boost their chances in the Eastern Conference. They delivered, acquiring Desmond Bane in the first major deal of a busy offseason. Will Bane give the Magic the offensive boost they need to vault into Eastern Conference contention?

This is a clear win-now move. But it is also a move that shows the Magic believe in and are following their philosophy to find defensive-minded, high-IQ players. Bane checks many of the boxes the Magic likes, even if he is not the player everyone thought the Magic would target.

Will this aggressive move end Orlando’s 12-year offensive struggles and launch them into the NBA’s elite?

0:00 Intro: Magic acquire Desmond Bane in trade
11:43 What Desmond Bane brings to the Magic
17:47 Bane’s fit with Magic’s style and needs
21:50 How Bane trade impacts Eastern Conference
26:57 Bane’s playoff experience and offensive potential

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