Should Orlando Trade Vucevic?

The NBA 2018-2019 season is approaching quickly, and while many teams have made big trades and moves already, one team that has kept relatively quiet in this offseason is the Orlando Magic. Of course, they drafted Mo Bamba, a center who could come into the league already a polished defensive anchor with tremendous upside on the offensive end, but they haven't really made any other big moves.

This is a problem for two reasons. 1) The point guard rotation has many fans uneasy, because after trading away Elfrid Payton, they have yet to find a long-term replacement. DJ Augustin is a fine option, but most teams would consider him a backup point guard at best. Also, Jerian Grant and Shelvin Mack have yet to prove they can lead any sort of starting NBA offense. And 2) the star center they just drafted could potentially be stuck behind Nikola Vucevic, a mediocre center who has strong offensive abilities but is very lackluster on defense.

I can understand the hesitance to trade Vucevic, especially considering he is one of the few consistent offensive players on a team that has major troubles on the offensive side, but he just doesn't seem to fit in with what the Orlando Magic have planned for the future.

Let's look at some of their promising young talents. Aaron Gordon is, of course, a very athletic four who is decent in almost every category but doesn't stand out in any of them besides being an athletic freak. Jonathan Isaac is another athletic big who could potentially play the four or five. His calling card is defense and athleticism, but he's very young and it wouldn't surprise anyone if his outside shot started to come around in the next few seasons. Then we have Mo Bamba, another athletic and defensive player with the potential to grow offensively.

Collectively, these players are all athletic, big men and extremely versatile. Vucevic just doesn't seem to fit into this mold. It is possible to keep Vucevic around, have him play as an off-ball spot-up shooter next to Isaac or Bamba, but I have a hard time imagining him trying to defend any modern NBA 4's in this day and age. Vucevic will be at his best playing the five, but do they really want to force Bamba to come off the bench? They could start Bamba, but this could have a disastrous effect o the team's chemistry. How will long-time starter Vucevic feel about being forced to the bench by a rookie? Also, if Vucevic stays, it will force Jonathan Isaac to play more of a wing/small forward position. While Isaac has the tools to do so on the defensive end to guard almost any position, his outside shot needs a lot of work, and it could be disastrous to Orlando's already dreadful offense if Isaac was playing a majority of his minutes at the three.

Another thing to note is that Vucevic does have some trade value. Although he doesn't fit the Magic team's forward direction very well, he's still a five with many of the offensive skills it takes to be a big man in the league today. He can score down low and has a pretty reliable outside shot. Orlando could trade him and a pick for a starting-caliber point guard and could be on their way to finally getting over the hump and into the playoff conversation.

The Hornets could be a great trade partner, with the Magic sending Vucevic and a first round pick for Kemba Walker. Kemba Walker could potentially be the perfect person for the job, but the pairing seems a bit obvious. Would Kemba really make that much of a difference on a Magic team that struggles so badly to create offense? Kemba could come in and be the perfect leader and make all of the pieces finally fit together, but there's nothing in Kemba's past that would suggest he could do that. It would definitely be disheartening to see Kemba come in and watch the Magic still struggle to win ball games.

To throw out just a few quick things that could potentially lead to something positive for the Magic: Vucevic for Spencer Dinwiddie, a young point guard who proved himself last season while D'angelo Russell was injured. Dinwiddie isn't the best scorer but a very reliable playmaker. Potential Problems: He may not be a total upgrade from Elfrid Payton who they just recently let go of, and also the Nets may not want to play Vucevic in front of Jarrett Allen who looks to have a promising career ahead of him.

Potentially, the Cavs might be willing to give up one of either Jordan Clarkson or George Hill for Vucevic, but Orlando may just have to give up a first rounder for that to happen. The Cavs could use the offensive kick this season and a Center rotation of Tristan Thompson and Nikola Vucevic could give a pretty dynamic performance. Potential Problems: who knows if the Cavaliers plan to play Kevin Love at center or if they have plans for Ante Zizic to play big minutes this upcoming season.

Going through teams that need a kick to their offense but also have a point guard to spare shows that there really aren't that many trade options for Orlando unless they are willing to go in a completely different direction.

Is it possible that Orlando has been working hard to find a way to trade Vucevic, but no team will give up what he's worth? Or is Orlando going to try and make a center rotation of Vucevic and Bamba work and just pray that the team chemistry doesn't completely blow up in their faces? One this is for sure, though, Bamba needs to play major minutes this season. So Orlando needs to find a way to make this team work around the athletic, versatile, and young core they've drafted because it's very possible that Aaron Gordon could walk this next offseason if this team isn't trending upwards.