Desmond Bane Reveals Text, FaceTime from Grizzlies GM About Magic Trade News

Desmond Bane revealed during an appearance on The Young Man and the Three podcast that Memphis Grizzlies general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations Zach Kleiman wished him a happy Father's Day before informing him that he had been traded to the Orlando Magic.

He also said he was happy to learn that the trade was sending him to Orlando, which was his preferred destination once he learned it was possible he could be dealt this offseason.

"We kept coming back to, like, if I could slide right in there, open up a little space for Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner," he said. "Jalen Suggs, you know, he's a defender, guards people all over the floor. Different shapes and sizes. It just seems like a great fit."

Bane indeed feels like the perfect complement to Orlando's talented young core. The Magic shot just 31.8 percent from three this past season, easily the worst mark in the NBA. Bane, meanwhile, has shot 41 percent from three in his career on 6.3 attempts per game, providing Orlando with an instant dose of floor spacing.

He is also a talented scorer in general, averaging 19.2 points per game this past season. And at 26, he fits within the general timeline of the team's core group.

"He'll be a good fit," an assistant coach told ESPN's Tim Bontemps. "There's not a lot of guys that you would want to grab as your third option that can do it to the level that he can do it."

The fit is right, but the Magic paid a steep price to acquire him, sending Memphis Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four unprotected first-rounders and a first-round pick swap in exchange.

Still, with the possibility that the Eastern Conference will be wide open next season—with players like Boston's Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee's Damian Lillard expected to miss most, if not all, of the 2025-26 campaign—it was easy to see why the Magic saw a window and pounced.

"For them, they got to give themselves a chance," an executive told Bontemps. "They have gone to the playoffs two years in a row and had a first-round exit, and they look around and they've got a young group that's trying to figure out how to take the next step. In theory, in the middle of the year you would have thought Indiana was in their group, too, in that you wouldn't have thought they could get over the top and the two best teams were clearly Cleveland and Boston. But with Boston not being there next year, it's going to be fascinating to see how much of a win-now approach is going to take place because every team is going to think they can do what Indiana just did."

Whether the Magic can actually take that kind of leap remains to be seen. But with Bane, they are certainly better positioned to do so.