Magic's Updated NBA Draft Picks After Vucevic, Gordon, Fournier Trades
March 25, 2021
The Orlando Magic were busy Thursday.
The team reportedly made the following three trades, bringing in serious draft capital:
- Aaron Gordon and Gary Clark to the Denver Nuggets for Gary Harris, R.J. Hampton and a protected 2025 first-round pick, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
- Evan Fournier to the Boston Celtics for two second-round picks, per Wojnarowski.
- Nikola Vucevic to the Chicago Bulls for Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr., a top-four protected 2021 first-rounder and a 2023 first-rounder, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.
Those draft picks will add to the team's own stash of picks (no outgoing picks in the coming years) in addition to a second-round pick owed to Orlando in 2022 from Indiana and a 2026 second-rounder owed to it from Milwaukee.
Blowing up the roster may be painful for Magic fans, but the team was stuck in limbo: It was just good enough to keep from getting really valuable draft picks but just bad enough to never be a legitimate contender.
The team also had ill-fitting parts, with a number of bigs that didn't make sense together. Thursday's deals will allow the Magic to build around Jonathan Isaac, Markelle Fultz, Cole Anthony, future draft picks and Mo Bamba, to a lesser extent.
They can also re-sign Carter Jr. to a long-term deal this summer if they like his fit.
This year's NBA draft is loaded, with a top five of true potential difference-makers in Cade Cunningham, Jalen Suggs, Jalen Green, Evan Mobley and Jonathan Kuminga. Even if Orlando doesn't end up with a top-five pick, it added the draft ammunition Thursday to potentially move up the board and land one of those players.
The Magic are rebuilding after the three trades they just made, but it's a soft rebuild. Going from a fringe playoff contender to a franchise with excellent future draft assets and a promising young core is a solid foundation on which to build.
Trading a trio of that caliber, including an All-Star like Vucevic in particular, might have been a shock to the system for Orlando faithful, but the team now has a more defined direction. Five years from now, Thursday may be remembered as a very good day for this franchise.