Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman believes Desmond Bane is the perfect fit for his team, according to Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel.
“The guy is almost the player you would design if you could start from scratch,” Weltman said. “Because obviously we’ve spoken a lot about our need for shooting but we’ve also talked about play-making and adding skill … Desmond is such a unique player because he’s one of the best shooters in the NBA, but he’s also a gifted play-maker and he generates shot-creation for himself and others. He creates advantages with and without the ball.”
In desperate need for more offense from the backcourt to complement high-scoring forward Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, Weltman dug deep into the team’s assets to acquire Bane from the Grizzlies. He traded guards Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony, four first-round picks and a 2029 pick swap in order to acquire Bane.
Weltman believes Bane’s timeline fits in well with his young core and the loss of draft capital was offset by the possibility of Bane making the Magic one of the top contenders in the Eastern Conference.
“We feel that the other unique thing about a guy like Des being available to obtain in a trade is the fact that he’s just about to turn 27, so if we are a good team then we hope to be a good team for a while,” Weltman said. “Hopefully, we’ll have this group together for a long time wearing Magic uniforms. That will determine what the value of those picks are and some of this is what the NBA is about. It’s betting on yourself. It’s putting pressure on yourself and elevating your standard.”
Bane averaged 19.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.2 steals this season while shooting 39.2% from 3 on 6.1 attempts. Orlando shot a league-low 31.8% from 3-point range and averaged the third-fewest points.
Weltman said that the trade talks for Bane were a gradual process.
“We valued him very highly for a while,” Weltman said. “There are few guys in the league that if they become available, you’re going to be aggressive. When I stood here after the season, I honestly didn’t expect him to be available in these conversations. But when we learned about that as we did our laps around the league, we shifted gears and made it a priority for us.”
Bane’s contract could become an issue if the trade doesn’t work out as planned. He has four years left on his five-year, $197.2MM deal.
Huge risk in my opinion with what they gave up. I understand liking a guy but this isn’t Carmelo Anthony or Ray Allen this is Desmond Bane. I don’t see how he’s 4 pick better than KCP but hey if he comes out and averages 24 6 and 4 for the Magic I don’t know ball.
“if he comes out and averages 24 6 and 4 for the Magic I don’t know ball.”
Looking for a player to average a specific stat line to judge their value might be the reason you don’t know ball… (Bane literally averaged 24-4-6 in 2024)
These are the same people who still think Zach LaVine > Derrick White bc PPG… Using a career loser like Carmelo Anthony as an example is just icing.
Bane is a better Tyler Herro and they traded two bad contracts to get him.
Just to clarify further…. Bane’s individual stat line Does. Not. Matter. One. Bit.
His spacing & playmaking will greatly improve the efficiency of Paolo (55 TS% / 34 USG%) and Franz (56 TS% / 31 USG%).’
The Magic have been a bottom 20 Offensive team since 2012(!!!!!). When they were coached by SVG and Dwight Howard was still on the team.
KCP wasn’t playing up to his nuggets level in o-town
Nobody talking about the defensive fit but Bane is perfect for their defensive scheme as well. He’s obv a great shooter but really he’s just a overall dog on the court. With the return of Suggs & Mo I fully expect Orlando to be 1 of the best teams in the league next season. The return of Suggs is gonna help Franz get easier shots which should raise his shooting efficiency.
Oh yeah. He and Suggs in the backcourt….nice defensively.
This will be a fun team to watch. Beautiful contrast with the Thunder, another defense-first team but built on speed vs muscle.
There’s no doubt it’s a huge haul to give up for Bane. I do think he is an awesome fit for the team and fits the window… and clearly Orlando is going all in right now. I like it when teams go for it like this, so I can’t complain.
Orlando’s problem last year was they didn’t have enough scoring once Paolo and Franz went down. But when your two best players go down hard for any team to replace production.
I thought Orlando should have swung a buy low deal for Beal while Paolo and Franz were injured to help with scoring but least they addressed this issue with Bane.
Beal has a no trade clause. He would have said no.
Orlando finished 41-41 made playoffs
Suns 36-46
Besl said he’d waive his clause to go to s contender and warm climate. Orlando fit both.
Orlando is not a contender…
They were before injuries to star players Banchero Franz and Suggs happened……they were as high as 4th in the east. Had they been able to win some games while they were injured they’d have been better once everyone came back. A guy like Beal would have helped while everyone was hurt.
Actually, their best run was when Paolo was down. They were 4th and even 3rd during that time. Then Franz also got injured, and even without them both they were 6-7 I think, which still kept in 4th. Had wins led by Cole Anthony heroics :) And in that run they played only 3 lottery teams, the rest were playoff opponents.
Then Paolo returned, was hugely inefficient and shot the team out of the games. Orlando went on big losing streaks. Then Franz returned and was also hugely inefficient. They got 6 games below .500, but finished 9-3 and ended up being .500 and play-in team.
Weird how the season played out for them.
Bane is a very good player, I like it. We’ll see how it plays out in terms of the picks Orlando traded.
As for Beal, he never wanted to move, there were teams who were looking into it, actually quite a few, even the Wizards, also several playoff teams. He had no desire to leave Phoenix whatsoever.
I thought the real problems started when Suggs went down.
Bane is not an offensive juggernaut. No one gameplans for him. Reach trade.
its why I hate the NBA – 4 first round picks and 2 good players for Bane, yet we are supposed to believe 1 first round pick and an often injured on the downside of his career player gets Lakers Luka Doncic, oh yeah and Dallas wins NBA lottery with a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. Absolutely absurd how stupid the NBA thinks fans are.
Could you imagine Luka Dončić to the magic for that package? Wow.
They’re just gonna be the Suns of the East. 3 stars and no depth. Granted the east is easier so they can celebrate losing in the conference finals every year instead of losing in the first round…
Bane is a perfect fit for ORL, both in terms of his skill set and his timeline. He may not be an All Star, but high-end starters like him at this stage of their careers are rarely available at all, and there’s never a fluid market in such players. ORL gave up a lot, but what else would one expect? This deal was made on ORL’s timeline (requiring MEM to forego a full marketing of the player in the offseason, and with ORL having the guy in the fold prior to offseason team activities). It was made without ORL losing a core player (in fact, they were relieved of a problematic contract).
People wringing their hands about the deal have to be focused on the level of draft pick compensation going to MEM. What they’re really doing is wringing their hands over the level of young to prime age talent in the league, and, more importantly, what’s projected to come into the league over the next 5-10 years. It’s too low (principally because it’s too raw) to support 30 competitive teams; and, more specifically here, too low to provide value to 30 first round draft picks or even 15-20 reliably. Plus, it’s likely to get worse before it gets better if the college system continues down its current path.
ORL is NOT the first team to trade remote 1st round picks in volume to acquire a player that historically would never have yielded anything close to that kind of return. I don’t believe they’ll be the last, in fact I think you’ll see more and more that this is the new standard to obtain any prime age high-end starter. NBA teams aren’t dumb, nor are they particularly impatient (certainly nobody has heretofore accused this ORL FO of being either). When they’re not willing to wait and rely on their upcoming draft picks to fill out the non-star part of their roster, there is a reason.