ORLANDO, Fla. — A day after the Orlando Magic traded away two players and four draft picks to acquire shooting guard Desmond Bane from the Memphis Grizzlies, President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman met with the media to shed light on why he made the deal.

He said Bane meets multiple needs for the team, which needed to improve its shooting and playmaking.

What You Need To Know

Guard Desmond Bane’s shooting and playmaking and his age led Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman to make a trade for him

Orlando acquired Bane on Sunday, sending guards Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony and four first-round picks to the Memphis Grizzlies

Bane will be in Orlando on Tuesday to get a look at his new basketball home and get introduced to the Orlando media

Weltman said the goal of the deal was to help the Magic take a step closer to championship contention, for many years going forward

“The guy is almost the player you would design if you could start from scratch,” Weltman said. “Desmond is such a unique player because he’s one of the best shooters in the NBA. But he’s also a gifted playmaker. He generates shot creation for himself and for others. He creates advantages with and without the ball. High IQ player….He’s kind of one of the 90th-plus percentile wings for putting them into guard actions, and he operates those actions at high frequency and high efficiency. He checks every box.

“And then you want to talk about the other end of the floor. The guy is tough. He is physical. He’s locked in every night. He’s one of those guys, I feel, that coaches know what they’re going to get from him every night — monster competitor at the highest level. I kind of think of him as an old-school tough guy.”

The Magic sent guards Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, their prize free agent signed last season, 2020 first-round draft pick Cole Anthony and four draft picks, including one that includes a pick swap with the Phoenix Suns or Washington Wizards in 2026, and a top-two protected pick swap in 2029 to the Grizzlies.

Bane will be in Orlando on Tuesday to meet with the media.

The number of draft picks involved has raised some eyebrows across the NBA because it could limit the team’s ability to add young talent through 2030.

“You don’t know what they’re (draft picks’) value will be going forward because they are future picks,” Weltman said. “It’s up to us to determine what the value of those picks are. We’re betting on ourselves. We feel like we’re going to be a good team…. If we are a good team, we hope to be a good team for a while.”

How the Magic perform after the trade will determine the value of the picks, he said.

Bane’s age also played a role in the decision, Weltman said. Bane will turn 27 on June 25, which Weltman pointed out will put their core four — power forward Paolo Banchero, forward Franz Wagner and guards Jalen Suggs and Bane — all between the ages of 23 and 27. He said he hopes that means the team will stay together for a while and be good for a while.

Another step to doing that is trying this summer to sign Banchero to a contract extension that would kick in after the upcoming season to lock up that core.

“Our goal isn’t to win the East. The goal is to win a championship. And the first step in doing that is to move our team forward and get ourselves into that conversation,” Weltman said. “I look at it like we’re a factor now. We’re a real factor. When I first got in front of you guys (media) when we plotted out this rebuild, the stated goal was to build a sustainable winner. We’re hopeful that this is a winning team and we can keep winning for a while. These guys are young, so hopefully, we can sustain it.”

He said he also expects each of the players to keep improving.

Another factor in making the deal is how much of the salary cap will be devoted to those four. The NBA salary cap for the 2025-26 season is projected to be $154.6 million and to go up about 10% a year, and each of those four players will be paid about $35 million and up each season over the next four to five seasons. Banchero could sign a deal worth more, especially if he is selected to an All NBA team next season. Those deals put the Magic on track to have one of the highest payrolls in the league.

The NBA does not have a hard salary cap, but once a team’s payroll reaches a certain amount known as the second apron — projected for the upcoming season to be $207.8 million — the deals they can make and the amount they can pay to add players are severely restricted.

“We put our foot on the gas here,” Weltman said. “I have told you guys that (salary-cap) train is coming for everybody. We probably skipped a station. I hope our team is good enough to merit where the finances will take us.”

He praised the DeVos family, owners of the Magic, for their willingness to spend the money to build a winner.

Weltman said he still is looking at other ways the Magic can round out their roster for the upcoming season.

If the Magic pick up all the options on players they currently have under contract, they only would have one regular roster spot available, excluding two-way players. They also still have the No. 25 pick in the NBA Draft next week. Weltman said that fact alone will make it difficult for a rookie to see much playing time.

Four of the players not on rookie contract have options in their contracts — center Moe Wagner, guards Gary Harris and Cory Joseph and guard/forward Caleb Houstan. If the Magic did not pick up any of those players’ options, that would open up additional roster spots the team would have to fill — without much flexibility because of their payroll.