The NBA offseason is off to the races with our first massive trade. On Father’s Day morning, ESPN Shams Charania revealed that Desmond Bane is heading to Orlando in a trade between the Grizzlies and Magic in a package driven by draft pick return.
Full Trade Details:
Grizzlies Receive: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, Four Unprotected 1st Round Picks, One 1st Round Pick Swap
Magic Receive: Desmond Bane
Why the Magic Made the Trade:
The Orlando Magic shot 31.8% from beyond the three-point arc last season. Not only was this the worst rate in the NBA, but the worst rate that any team has recorded since the Los Angeles Lakers in 2015-16 (31.7%). Orlando’s issues were even further exposed in the postseason when they shot 26.3% from beyond the three-point arc in the five-game series with the Boston Celtics before they were officially eliminated.
Orlando desperately needs floor spacing, and Desmond Bane will be a difference-maker in this category. The 26-year-old averaged 19.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.3 assists this season while shooting 39.2% from beyond the three-point arc on 6.1 three-point attempts per game. This was still a bit of a down season by the TCU product’s standards, as he is a 41.0% three-point shooter on 6.3 perimeter shots per game across his five-year career.
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are excellent at attacking the basket and creating for others, but the Magic have struggled to find players to maximize on these looks. Orlando took a major swing last offseason, overpaying to bring Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in on a three-year, $66 million deal, hoping he could answer this problem. The two-time NBA champion struggled this season, shooting just 34.6% from beyond the arc, which marked his worst efficiency since 2015-16 when he was still with the Detroit Pistons.
The Eastern Conference is wide open with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future in doubt and Jayson Tatum sidelined for the foreseeable future with his Achilles tear. This is a win-now move for the Magic that they hope will catapult them into the true contending category. Desmond Bane signed a five-year, $197.2 million contract with the Grizzlies last offseason. He will be under contract for the next four years, and the Magic view him as a win-now part of their core. Bane is a great fit on this team, even if the price to get him was steep. There are limited options in the trade market, with teams being willing to trade their stars as the first hurdle, and the Magic elected that he was worth the swing.
Why the Grizzlies Made the Trade:
The Memphis Grizzlies are in a bit of a crossroads as a franchise, with Ja Morant’s lack of consistent availability continuing to prove problematic. They fired Taylor Jenkins with just nine games remaining in the regular season after some disagreements internally regarding the style of basketball and after the organization changed Jenkins’ assistant staff before the year.
Desmond Bane is a really solid player, but likely was in a role a bit too large for him in Memphis. The Western Conference is loaded with talent, and the pathway to winning is more difficult than ever. Memphis has not won a playoff series since making the Conference Semifinals in the 2021-22 season. They were knocked out first round by the Lakers the following year, missed the playoffs outright in 2023-24, and were swept by the Thunder this season.
Whether this is a step towards a rebuild or stacking their assets to get back to the trade table is to be determined. But the Grizzlies needed to make some sort of change, and now have much more flexibility for what they want to do moving forward. Getting four unprotected first-round picks and a pick swap is excellent value for a player like Bane, and it resets Memphis as a franchise a bit.
Cole Anthony is also a young, talented guard worth taking a flyer on. While he has been buried at times in Orlando’s deep guard rotation, Anthony has averaged as many as 16.3 points per game over a season and is still just 25 years old.
The Verdict:
A rule of thumb in the NBA is that the team that walks away with the best player typically wins the trade. While Demond Bane unquestionably is the best player in this deal, I still give the edge to the Grizzlies in this deal.
This is a level of draft capital that you cannot really pass up for a player who does not seem to fully fit their vision. Memphis can take a breather and truly sort through what the next best steps are for the franchise. If they believe the window has closed around this core, they could look to move Ja Morant next and enter a full rebuild. If they believe the window is still open, they can step right back up to the trade table with the ability to build a much more convincing trade package.
You also have to respect the Magic taking the win-now swing and attempting to strike while the iron is hot. Banchero is 22 years old, and Wagner is 23, with each guy taking some impressive steps already in their NBA careers. Adding Bane to their long-term core is a win-now swing that should catapult them right into the Eastern Conference mix.
Expect this to only be the start of what should be a busy NBA offseason, and don’t count on either of these teams being fully done. Also, this is the first needle-moving trade that will have an impact on setting the trade market values around the NBA for the offseason.
Looking into the futures market, the Magic have now climbed the the fifth-best odds of winning the Eastern Conference at +900 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook and +3000 odds of winning the championship, the 12th-best odds. Memphis has dropped to holding the 10th-best odds of winning the Western Conference next season at +4500 odds on DraftKings.
