Magic, Grizzlies' Rosters, Salary Cap, Draft Picks After Bane, Cole Anthony, KCP Trade
The NBA Finals might still be happening, but the offseason is starting to kick into gear with the first blockbuster of the summer.
ESPN's Shams Charania reported the Orlando Magic are acquiring guard Desmond Bane from the Memphis Grizzlies for guards Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony along with four first-round picks.
With the deal, Memphis lowers its payroll slightly. Bane is due to earn $36.7 million in 2025-26 while Caldwell-Pope and Anthony combine to count for $34.7 million.
Here's what the Grizzlies' first-round draft capital looks like moving forward:
Memphis Grizzlies First-Round Picks
2025: No. 16 Overall
2026: Own, PHX
2027: Own
2028: Own, ORL
2029: Own
2030: Own, ORL
Bane will slot into the starting lineup alongside Jalen Suggs in Orlando's backcourt, while Caldwell-Pope and Anthony provide depth for Memphis:
Memphis Grizzlies Depth Chart
- PG: Ja Morant, Cole Anthony, Scotty Pippen Jr.
- SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
- SF: John Konchar, Vince Willams Jr.
- PF: Jaren Jackson Jr., Brandon Clarke
- C: Zach Edey, Jay Huff
Orlando Magic Depth Chart
- PG: Jalen Suggs, Cory Joseph
- SG: Desmond Bane, Gary Harris
- SF: Franz Wagner, Caleb Houstan, Jett Howard
- PF: Paolo Banchero, Jonathan Isaac
- C: Wendell Carter Jr., Goga Bitadze, Moritz Wagner
There's no getting around the fact the Grizzlies are worse in the short term after the trade.
Since making his breakthrough in 2021-22, Bane has averaged 20.2 points and shot 40.7 percent from long range. Neither Anthony nor Caldwell-Pope is the same kind of scorer or shooter, and their combined efforts don't make up for what Pope brought to the table.
But Orlando's offer was too good to turn down.
The draft picks in particular will be invaluable if general manager Zach Kleiman wants to turn around and make an aggressive trade himself. He might actually be negotiating from a stronger position now because a team that's giving up a big star is probably pivoting toward a rebuild and would thus value draft capital over anything else.
The Magic, meanwhile, just took their big swing and they did it on a player who has yet to even make an All-Star team.
Bane undoubtedly addresses one of Orlando's biggest offensive issues. The team was dead last in made threes (11.2 per game) and three-point percentage (31.8). Still, the 26-year-old isn't a player you'd expect to be worth four first-rounders.
And in the case of Mikal Bridges' trade last summer to the New York Knicks, Bridges had an All-Defensive nod in 2021-22 to his name and was the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up that season. New York had also won 50 games and pushed the Indiana Pacers to seven games in the conference semifinals before judging Bridges to be a worthwhile addition.
Good or bad, this trade may define the tenures of Magic president Jeff Weltman and general manager Anthony Parker. They'll look like geniuses if Bane plays a key role on an NBA Finals squad. If this gambit doesn't work, however, it will have severe long-term consequences for a young roster that has shown a ton of promise.
