{"id":582494,"date":"2026-02-04T19:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T19:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/582494\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T19:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T19:42:15","slug":"nba-trade-deadline-on-deck-for-dejected-orlando-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/582494\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA trade deadline on deck for dejected Orlando Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 The Thunder<\/a> entered Tuesday\u2019s contest against the Magic<\/a> averaging a league-leading 120.3 points per night.<\/p>\n

Their defensive rating (105.8) as well as their net rating (plus-12.1) were both best in the NBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So when Orlando<\/a> stepped onto the court inside Paycom Center during its lone trip of the regular season to Oklahoma City, it was more of the same problems that quickly piled up for Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad.<\/p>\n

The Magic fell behind 39-14 after the first 12 minutes of the game, were outrebounded 52-38 and gave up 60 points in the paint to a Thunder team that averaged 51.4 paint points per night.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to mention the 28 points the defending champs scored off 16 Orlando turnovers on their way to a 128-92 victory, the team\u2019s 22nd at home this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, we\u2019ve been losing to everybody,\u201d Anthony Black<\/a> told the Orlando Sentinel in the locker room after the 36-point loss. \u201cSo, you can say, \u2018The Thunder is the Thunder,\u2019 if you want to \u2014 we\u2019re losing to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first quarter specifically has continued to cause issues for the Magic, which has left them facing deep deficits similar to Tuesday\u2019s game at Oklahoma City (40-11) and two days earlier at San Antonio (33-16).<\/p>\n

Orlando averages 28.8 points per first quarter per night, a scoring mark that ranks 20th league-wide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been the case not just the last two games but most of the season,\u201d Paolo Banchero<\/a> told the Sentinel. \u201cSo, it\u2019s something that we\u2019ve got to try to address. We keep saying we\u2019ve got to figure it out but it\u2019s not getting figured out so it\u2019s tough. It\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Desmond Bane<\/a>: \u201cWe\u2019ve got to understand the task at hand and come out with a better approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Falling down early over and over again begins to take a toll on the team\u2019s mentality. As does the inconsistent play of the past two months.<\/p>\n

The Magic had gone 12-16 since Dec. 3, a stretch during which Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain injury management) was only available for five games.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot the best,\u201d Banchero said when asked in the locker room how he\u2019d evaluate the team\u2019s mindset following Tuesday\u2019s loss. \u201cWe\u2019re not where we want to be. We\u2019re losing more than we\u2019re winning. I wouldn\u2019t say we\u2019re in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the NBA trade deadline set for 3 p.m. Thursday, the window to make a change to Orlando\u2019s roster is closing quickly for Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman.<\/p>\n

The franchise, which hasn\u2019t made an in-season trade since February 2023, enters the deadline roughly $5.6 million above the league\u2019s luxury tax threshold.<\/p>\n

Late Tuesday, No. 5 Cleveland (30-21), which sat four games above No. 8 Orlando (25-24) entering Wednesday, reportedly agreed to swap two-time All-Star guard Darius Garland and future second-round pick for eight-time All-NBA guard James Harden from the Clippers.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, No. 3 Boston (32-18) landed former Magic center Nikola Vucevic and a future second-round pick from Chicago in exchange for Orlando native Anfernee Simons (Edgewater High) and a future second-round pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really paying too much attention to it,\u201d Banchero said about the trade deadline. \u201cObviously, other teams are making trades and stuff. I don\u2019t know since I\u2019ve been here that we\u2019ve done anything at the trade deadline so I\u2019m not really too concerned or too worried about the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone on the team is worried about it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

While any potential move is out of his hands, Banchero is a believer in the current version of the Magic, who are still operating with a standard contract roster spot open as of Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely, yeah,\u201d he said when asked if he thinks Orlando has enough to talent to salvage its season. \u201cWe\u2019re a very talented team. Obviously we\u2019re not winning as much as we would like to, so talent really doesn\u2019t mean anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as far as just on-paper, our talent, yeah, I think we have enough,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what happens at the deadline, the Magic enter a crucial stretch before next weekend\u2019s NBA All-Star break.<\/p>\n

After playing four of its past five on the road, Orlando returns to Kia Center for its next four in a row, starting Thursday night against Brooklyn (13-36).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for us,\u201d Bane said. \u201cFour home games, you get a chance to get back to Orlando, get some sunshine, get a couple good practices in and four games that are very winnable. If we go and handle our business over those next few, it\u2019ll put us in position to have some momentum going into All-Star break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Banchero: \u201cDefinitely want to go into the break with some momentum, win those games at home and just leave off on a good note before the break. Those will be important games for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Nets<\/p>\n

When:\u00a07 p.m., Thursday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 The Thunder entered Tuesday\u2019s contest against the Magic averaging a league-leading 120.3 points per night.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,165,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,76,1412,66,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-582494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-oklahoma","12":"tag-oklahoma-city","13":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","14":"tag-oklahomacity","15":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","16":"tag-orlando-magic","17":"tag-social","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116014072857019540","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}