Orlando Magic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Magic, Houstan, Young, Kuzma

December 24th, 2022 at 7:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Magic are in the midst of their best nine-game stretch in more than a decade, but there’s no single reason why it’s happening, writes Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando has moved into the race for the play-in tournament by winning eight of its last nine games, and head coach Jamahl Mosley believes everything he’s been trying to teach his young players over the past two seasons is taking hold.

“We’ve been saying it from the beginning: understanding we’re close (and) getting over the hump,” Mosley said. “You just have to stick with that process. The growth, understanding those close games and what those mean later on in the season. It’s just the belief system these young men are starting to grow into.”

The Magic own the NBA’s second-best rating in clutch situations and have started winning tight games that they couldn’t close out earlier in the season. Orlando is also among the league’s top seven teams in both offensive and defensive rating during the last two and a half weeks.

“As a young team, sometimes we can get caught up in ‘Oh, we won a certain amount of games. Let’s get comfortable,’” said Wendell Carter Jr., who returned to the lineup Friday after missing more than a month. “I feel like the biggest thing for us is to continue to do what got us here. Not to change the formula or too many things. Just do what got us to this point.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Magic have considered sending Caleb Houstan to the G League to get more playing time, tweets Aaron Goldstone of Orlando Pinstriped Post. The rookie small forward has appeared in 22 of the team’s 34 games.
Trae Young‘s father responded to a recent article by Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report speculating about Young’s future in Atlanta and a tweet by Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer suggesting the Hawks guard isn’t willing to play off the ball alongside Dejounte Murray. “Although I like Kevin’s stuff, now there’ll be articles on Trae like this just because ‘rival execs’ believe something!” Ray Young tweeted. “Trae doesn’t talk to other teams. He’s busy trying to win in Atlanta. Will this ever end?”
With their roster almost fully healthy, the Wizards understand they have to start producing to prevent a shakeup at the trade deadline, per Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “It’s tough for you to make decisions without a healthy team, and we’ve got to make up some ground,” Kyle Kuzma said. “We’ve been injured a lot, but we’ve got a chance to rewrite some things. The trade deadline is in six weeks, and everyone in this locker room knows about that.”

Wendell Carter, Gary Harris Set To Return For Magic

December 23rd, 2022 at 11:29am CST by Luke Adams

The Magic, riding a hot streak, got some more good news on December 23, according to Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel, who reports that center Wendell Carter Jr. and swingman Gary Harris will both be available on Friday vs. San Antonio following lengthy injury absences.

Carter has missed Orlando’s last 17 games due to a strained right plantar fascia, having last played on November 18. Harris, meanwhile, has been out since November 30. His 11-game absence was the result of a strained right hamstring.

Carter had averaged a career-high 16.6 points per game to go along with 9.1 RPG and 3.3 APG in his first 15 appearances (all starts) this season, while Harris put up 10.3 PPG on .479/.435/1.000 shooting in six games (three starts). Carter was averaging nearly 33 minutes per game, while Harris was logging almost 26 minutes per night, so both players figure to reclaim key roles now that they’re healthy, though they’ll be on minutes restrictions for the time being.

Still, the Magic will want to be careful not to meddle too much with what has been working for them lately. After losing 20 of their first 25 games, the Magic have won seven of eight and are suddenly just two games out of the play-in picture in the Eastern Conference standings.

Friday’s game should be the first time this season that Orlando doesn’t have at least four players sidelined due to injuries, according to Price.

Jonathan Isaac (left knee), Chuma Okeke (left knee), and Jalen Suggs (right ankle) have been ruled out for the game, though Isaac still appears to be making progress toward his long-awaited return. He went through shootaround today and head coach Jamahl Mosley said Isaac is cleared to practice with the Magic when they do hold practices (Twitter link via Price).

Magic Rumors: Bamba, Ross, Harris, Hampton, Anthony

December 21st, 2022 at 8:07am CST by Luke Adams

The Magic lost by a single point in Atlanta on Monday night, but prior to that game, Orlando had reeled off six straight wins, with many of them coming against tough opponents. The Magic won home games against the Clippers, Hawks, and Raptors (twice), then capped off the streak with a pair of victories in Boston.

Orlando is still just 11-21 on the season, but the team seems to be taking the sort of positive step forward that management wanted to see in 2022/23, writes Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

“They have two of the premier positions in the league — play-making forwards — on rookie scale contracts, intriguing young talent around them on solid contracts, no bad money moving forward, and some veterans who could get them back even more draft capital should they choose to trade them,” an Eastern Conference team strategist told Fischer.

While the Magic haven’t been big spenders in free agency during their rebuilding process, league figures familiar with the club’s thinking tell Fischer that ownership will be prepared to open its check book when the time comes to invest in complementary pieces around those two young forwards, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero.

Here’s more on the Magic:

Among potential Orlando trade chips this season, Mohamed Bamba may have the most value, according to Fischer, who says league sources believe the Magic will likely be seeking a first-round pick for Bamba and would settle for a protected or late first-rounder. Fischer notes that the Magic pursued Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency this past summer, which is perhaps an indication that Bamba was a fallback option and isn’t in the team’s long-term plans.
Although it’s unclear which teams might have interest in Bamba specifically, front office personnel expect teams like the Clippers, Lakers, Raptors, Kings, and Nets to explore the trade market for big men, Fischer writes.
Veteran wings Terrence Ross and R.J. Hampton, both in contract years, are also considered potential trade candidates, as is Gary Harris, who has a non-guaranteed salary for 2023/24. However, their appeal will probably be limited, given their modest production relative to their respective cap hits. Ross has previously drawn interest from the Lakers and Knicks, and the Magic have sought a first-round pick for him in the past, but it’s hard to envision them getting more than a second-rounder if they move him, says Fischer.
League personnel think there may be a “sizable gap” between Cole Anthony‘s asking price and what the Magic are willing to offer when the third-year guard becomes eligible for a rookie scale extension next offseason, per Fischer.

Magic’s Okeke Out At Least One Month Following Knee Procedure

December 20th, 2022 at 8:10am CST by Luke Adams

The Magic will be without forward Chuma Okeke for at least the next month, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports that Okeke underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee.

Wojnarowski specifies that the procedure was a chondroplasty, which is designed to “repair and reshape damaged cartilage in a joint.” The plan is for Okeke to be reevaluated in four weeks, Woj adds. He had already missed the last 14 games due to the injury.

The 16th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Okeke has a history of left knee problems. He spent his first professional season in the G League before signing an NBA contract because he was still recovering from a torn left ACL that he suffered while playing at Auburn.

The 24-year-old, now in his third NBA season, has shown some flashes of promise as a three-and-D contributor, knocking down 34.8% of his three-point attempts as a rookie in 2020/21. However, he has struggled with his shot so far this season, making just 36.8% of his field goal attempts, including 30.0% of his threes. In 18 appearances (seven starts), he has averaged 5.4 PPG and 4.2 RPG in 21.8 minutes per night.

Fortunately, the Magic have no shortage of options at forward, with Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, and Bol Bol all having strong seasons. Reserve forward Admiral Schofield has also been playing well as a rotation piece as of late, putting up 22 points and 11 rebounds in 30 minutes across his last two games. There’s optimism that Jonathan Isaac, who is the final stages of his own injury rehab process, will be back at some point in the near future too.

Southeast Notes: Carter, Wizards, Morris, Rozier

December 19th, 2022 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. is targeting Friday for his return from a right plantar fascia strain, according to Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel. Carter, who hasn’t played since November 18, told Price that the injured area is “feeling a lot better.”

Carter said he and the team put together a plan several days ago for him to play in Friday’s matchup with the Spurs, which marks the start of a two-game homestand. In preparation, Carter has been scrimmaging with assistant coaches and some of his teammates.

“Since I missed so much [time] it was like 75% getting my foot back right and then the other 25% of making sure — I haven’t played in four weeks — they want to make sure I don’t go out there and tweak something because it hasn’t had that same stress,” Carter said. “Hamstrings, quads, whatever the case may be. They just want to make sure I ramp it up to the point where it might not be exactly how the game will be but it’s close enough to where my body can start to get re-acclimated and be good to go.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

It’s hard to pinpoint a single reason for the Wizards‘ losing streak, which reached 10 games with Sunday’s narrow defeat against the Lakers, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Injuries have been an issue, but the losing continued as Kristaps Porzingis came back Saturday and Bradley Beal returned Sunday.
Monte Morris was surprised to learn that he had been traded to the Wizards after five years in Denver, per Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth admits that he went to dinner with Morris and promised him that he wouldn’t be dealt, but Booth said he couldn’t pass up the chance to acquire Kentavious Caldwell-Pope when the opportunity arose. “I was definitely shocked because I heard different things like I wasn’t going nowhere and stuff,” Morris said. “For me, that just showed me you can’t really put all your eggs in one basket nowhere. Ain’t no hard feelings towards him or nobody. I put that personal side behind me the moment they said the trade was done with. It’s just business.”
Hornets guard Terry Rozier suffered a contusion on his right hip while diving for a loose ball Sunday night, according to Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. Rozier’s status for Monday’s game at Sacramento will be determined later today.

Nwaba’s G League Rights Acquired By Pistons’ Affiliate

December 18th, 2022 at 6:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Motor City Cruise, the Pistons’ G League affiliate, have acquired veteran guard David Nwaba from the Lakeland Magic in exchange for Micah Potter and a second-round pick in the 2023 NBAGL draft, Marc Stein tweets.

Stein reported on Friday that Nwaba was signing a G League contract. Lakeland claimed him off waivers, then dealt him to the Cruise.

Nwaba spent the past couple seasons with Houston, but he was traded to Oklahoma City in September and subsequently waived before the season started. However, his contract for 2022/23 was fully guaranteed at just over $5MM, so the Thunder are paying his salary.

Nwaba is still free to sign with any NBA team. The G League Showcase takes place this week in Las Vegas, so the six-year veteran will be looking to make a strong impression with the Cruise ahead of January 5, when NBA teams can start signing players to 10-day contracts.

Potter is on a two-way contract with the Jazz. His G League rights were technically held by the Cruise, though he has been playing for the Salt Lake City Stars, Utah’s affiliate. If Potter gets waived by the Jazz or his contract expires, Utah loses any G League rights to Potter and Lakeland would control them.

Potter has appeared in two games for the Jazz. He has started 12 games for the Stars, averaging 14.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per night.

Magic Notes: M. Wagner, Hampton, Bol, Banchero

December 17th, 2022 at 6:28pm CST by Arthur Hill

Moritz Wagner‘s Magic teammates say he does a lot of things that don’t show up in the box score, including annoying his opponents, writes Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel. The latest example came Friday night when Celtics forward Al Horford was ejected and given a Flagrant 2 foul after elbowing Wagner in the stomach.

“He plays with an unlimited amount of energy and he’s just out there yelling, getting on the ground, frustrating the other team — just all the little things you have to have,” Paolo Banchero said. “You have to have a player like that who’s bringing that energy and has that intensity no matter what.”

Orlando has won four in a row after a 6-20 start and has been playing better since Wagner joined the starting lineup eight games ago. He’s averaging 14.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists since the move while shooting 54.9% from the field and 36.1% on three-pointers. Wagner will be a free agent next summer, but he may be inclined to re-sign with the Magic and continue playing alongside his younger brother.

“He’s a lot more skilled than I think people realize,” Banchero added. “He’s a super smart player. Him and his brother [Franz Wagner] are very smart and cerebral. They have very good awareness of what’s going on in the game. Not just what they’re doing, what their man is doing, they know what’s going on with your man and what they see you doing. They’re just very aware.”

There’s more on the Magic:

R.J. Hampton is back with the team after playing G League games on Thursday and Friday, Price adds. Hampton has been out of the rotation in Orlando and requested the assignment with the Lakeland Magic as a way to get more playing time.
Bol Bol is displaying the combination of size and athleticism that has scouts raving about Victor Wembanyama, observes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. Bol, who has emerged as a candidate for Most Improved Player in his first full season with the Magic, says he never got a chance to display his skills during his two and a half years in Denver. “Yeah, I had all of this,” he said. “It’s just I haven’t really been able to show it because I’ve been on the bench for the last couple of years. Now that they’ve given me the opportunity, I’ve just been trying to get better each game and I think it’s been showing.”
Before he was drafted by Orlando, Banchero got some valuable advice from Celtics star and fellow Duke alum Jayson Tatum, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. “When I play against good players or good teams they kind of have a little bit of extra motivation to try to stop me or make it hard for me,” Banchero said. “That’s something Jayson told me right away, before I even got to the NBA. It’s helped a lot.”

And-Ones: Award Frontrunners, Possible Tankers, Trade Market

December 15th, 2022 at 11:07am CST by Luke Adams

Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is the choice for Most Valuable Player one-third of the way through the 2022/23 NBA season, Nekias Duncan of BasketballNews.com argues in an early-season award ballot. Tatum is averaging over 30 points, eight rebounds, and four assists per game with terrific shooting numbers and is a candidate for an All-Defensive spot on the other end of the floor, according to Duncan, who contends that doing all that for the NBA’s best team makes the MVP award Tatum’s to lose.

Duncan also checks in on the NBA’s other award races, selecting Bucks center Brook Lopez as the top candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, Magic forward Paolo Banchero as the early Rookie of the Year frontrunner, and Bucks forward/center Bobby Portis as his Sixth Man of the Year choice, among others.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Which teams should be throwing in the towel on 2022/23 and focusing on next year’s draft? John Hollinger of The Athletic breaks down the potential tankers, ranging from the “pull the plug already” group (the Pistons and Hornets) to the “one injury away” tier, which includes playoff hopefuls like the Heat, Mavericks, and Raptors.
A panel of SI.com basketball writers – including Howard Beck, Chris Mannix, and Chris Herring – prepared for NBA trade season by identifying a player they expect to be moved, picking an intriguing team to watch, and naming a trade they’d like to see happen this season. Three of the five panelists pointed to a Bradley Beal deal as one they’re hoping for, even if it’s probably unlikely in the first season of his five-year contract with the Wizards.
Michael Pina of The Ringer poses and explores nine questions related to the trade market, including whether the league-wide parity we’ve seen so far this season will catalyze or stifle negotiations. Like those SI.com writers, Pina would welcome some action on the Beal front, referring to the union between the All-Star guard and the Wizards as “the most frustrating dead-end relationship in the entire NBA.”

Southeast Notes: Hampton, Beal, Porzingis, Kuzma, Butler

December 14th, 2022 at 6:01pm CST by Rory Maher

Magic guard R.J. Hampton has signed with CAA and will be represented by agent Aaron Mintz, according to Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link), who notes that Mintz also represents Magic veterans Terrence Ross and Gary Harris.

Hampton was previously with LIFT Sports Management, but departed the agency after the Magic declined their fourth-year team option on his rookie scale contract for 2023/24, making him an unrestricted free agent in 2023.

Price reports (via Twitter) that Hampton requested — and was granted (Twitter link) — a temporary G League assignment with Orlando’s affiliate in Lakeland in order to get more playing time. The No. 24 overall pick of the 2020 draft has been a healthy scratch for three consecutive games.

The plan is for the 21-year-old to play in Lakeland’s home games on Thursday and Friday and then rejoin the Magic in Boston for Sunday’s contest, head coach Jamahl Mosley confirmed to Price (Twitter link). Through 21 games (15.6 MPG), Hampton is averaging 6.5 PPG, 1.6 RPG and 1.5 APG on .438/.347/.871 shooting.

Here’s more from the Southeast:

The Wizards will be playing without their two leading scorers on Wednesday in Denver, as Bradley Beal (hamstring) and Kristaps Porzingis (low back soreness) have been ruled out, tweets Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. Beal was medically cleared to return, but clearly needs a bit more time to ramp up his conditioning. He has now missed five straight games with the injury, while Porzingis will miss just his second game of the ’22/23 season.
Josh Robbins of The Athletic details why Kyle Kuzma‘s contract situation has the Wizards in a tough spot. As Robbins writes, Kuzma is limited by the CBA rule regarding veteran contract extensions, so the maximum the Wizards can offer him in an extension is $69.9MM over four years. He’s averaging 21.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG and 3.6 APG, and he figures to land $20MM+ annually when he opts out of his $13MM player option in the summer to become a free agent (a mere formality at this point), so Washington has to decide if they want to risk losing him for nothing or trade him away to recoup assets. The Wizards do hold his Bird Rights, so they can offer him an additional year — and more money — than a rival team could.
The Wizards have lost 10 of their past 11 games, including seven straight. When asked about the team’s morale, Kuzma said it’s “not as bad as you think,” according to Robbins. The veteran forward added that he’s disappointed in the results, but not the team’s effort. “I mean, it does suck to lose,” Kuzma continued. “Everybody in here does feel s–t about losing, but we’re competing. It’s not a lack of effort. If it was a lack of effort, it’d probably be way worse. But as long as we’re competing every single night, we’ve given ourselves a chance. You’ve just got to tip your cap and just live with it.”
Heat forward Jimmy Butler will miss Wednesday’s game in Oklahoma City due to right knee management, but he’s expected to return to action on Thursday against Houston, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). As Chiang relays in a full story for The Miami Herald, Butler missed seven games in November with the injury, so the Heat are being cautious with their star player. He’ll miss one end of the back-to-back at the end of the month, but the team is hopeful that will be the last time he’ll miss a game on a back-to-back — Miami doesn’t have any on its January schedule.

Trade Rumors: Sixers, Bogdanovic, Quickley, Bamba

December 14th, 2022 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Every trade deadline features at least a small handful of deals that are exclusively about money rather than players, and this season’s deadline likely won’t be any different, writes Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Pincus suggests the Sixers are one team worth keeping a close eye on for a possible financially motivated trade.

Philadelphia is just barely over the luxury tax line, so moving a player like Jaden Springer or Shake Milton to sneak under that threshold would save a ton of money for the team. Not only would the Sixers avoid paying a small tax bill in that scenario — they’d also be one of the non-taxpayers that receives a portion of the league-wide tax payments at season’s end. Pincus has estimated that each non-taxpayer will get a share of about $17MM, based on the current tax projections.

Here are a few more highlights from Pincus’ latest look at the trade market:

Although the Pistons‘ front office has downplayed the likelihood of a Bojan Bogdanovic trade, Pincus hears from “well-placed” sources that Detroit may simply be waiting for an offer with a “suitable” first-round pick. Presumably, a suitable first-rounder would be one that doesn’t include heavy protections and has a chance to land in the teens or higher.
While there has been no indication they’re pursuing him, some rival executives think the Mavericks should be targeting Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley, Pincus writes.
Pincus identifies Magic center Mohamed Bamba as a possible trade candidate to watch, since his role has declined due to Paolo Banchero‘s arrival and Bol Bol‘s emergence. Bamba’s 2023/24 salary is non-guaranteed, so his two-year, $20.6MM contract is relatively team-friendly.
The three-team trade talks the Suns had with the Bucks and Rockets about a possible Jae Crowder trade expanded to include the Warriors, who are among the teams with interest in Crowder, says Pincus. However, nothing came of those discussions.