The Orlando Magic pulled off the primary huge commerce of the 2025 offseason in touchdown Desmond Bane from the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Magic gave up Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, 4 first-round picks, and a choose swap in alternate for the capturing guard.
Orlando’s greatest weak spot in latest seasons has been a scarcity of spacing, and Bane ought to instantly remedy that to some extent.
They’re in all probability now ready to contend within the Jap Convention, regardless of missing depth in a single key place.
However Jeff Teague thinks his former group wants one particular participant to step up within the absence of Caldwell-Pope and Anthony.
Teague spoke positively concerning the Magic’s projected beginning 5 after the commerce: Bane, Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, and Wendell Carter Jr.
He doesn’t thoughts that the lineup is lacking a real level guard, so long as Anthony Black can turn into a extra impactful bench participant.
“What I like about this group now could be that they don’t have a playmaking guard,” he defined on his podcast.
“Nicely, Anthony Black was just like the sixth or seventh choose. He’d higher determine it out. It’s time. They principally informed him, ‘You’re up subsequent.’
“This jogs my memory of the Celtics group, not the identical scoring or capturing, however Jalen Suggs is a defender. He can get you 16 factors per recreation, however he’s a stable defender. He’s an excellent on-ball, scrappy participant and performs onerous.
“Then, you’ve obtained your two stars: Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. They don’t want a standard level guard as a result of they play with the ball.
“They want spacing, and one factor Desmond Bane can do is shoot that rock. So, him having the ability to house the ground, and their huge, Wendell Carter Jr., has labored on his recreation so he could make a shot.
“I feel they’ve obtained the method for an excellent group. They’re going to have the ability to change one via 4 simply. It’s going to be attention-grabbing.”
The Magic’s daring choice to half methods with 4 first-round picks within the Bane commerce has been referred to as into query by many.
Nonetheless, Teague is adamant that they don’t want any extra younger gamers on the roster, and the picks shouldn’t be too helpful anyway.
“I be ok with it,” he added. “You’ve obtained to assume, they needed to get off that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope cash. I like KCP, he’s a cool dude, however he wasn’t good.
“Cole Anthony has been an excellent participant for them, however they simply weren’t utilizing him proper. It was time to get off that cash. They prolonged Anthony, and so they paid KCP all that cash. To have the ability to get off these contracts…
“I do know that they had to surrender these first-round picks, however if you happen to actually have a look at how younger this group is, you’ve nonetheless obtained Anthony Black on the bench and folks you bought tremendous excessive within the first spherical. You’ve obtained to provide these folks an opportunity.
“Including extra younger guys to that roster actually wasn’t going to assist them. They want some extra veteran items as a result of their high 5 gamers are all below 27. So that you’re going to have them for one more stable 4 or 5 years. These picks actually aren’t going to matter.”
