Magic's Desmond Bane Gambit Works in Knicks' Favor

Sometimes a bittersweet bout with good old-fashioned schadenfreude is exactly what one needs to overcome the coaching search blues. Faced with attention that rivals even the allure of the ongoing NBA Finals, the New York Knicks may find it particularly wunderbar.

The Orlando Magic conjured up some intrigue on an otherwise quiet day on the Association calendar, obtaining Desmond Bane at a massive price from the Memphis Grizzlies: The deal, first reported by Shams Charania of ESPN, sends four unprotected first-round picks to Memphis (and one more via pick swap), as well as depth stars Cole Anthony (son of former Knick Greg) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

The trade takes the Association spotlight away from the head coach-less Knicks, if only for a short while. New York management, however, can watch from the sideline with a smirk, knowing that some of their prior moves are fully justified.

Bridges Too Far?

The small-market nature of the Magic will likely spare its leadership the scrutiny the Knicks faced when they traded five first-round choices to the Brooklyn Nets for Mikal Bridges last summer. Barring maybe an NBA Finals run, however, Orlando has engaged in a deal that, at an admittedly premature glance, makes the Bridges deal look like a stolen bargain.

One of the reasons it was easy to deal with president Leon Rose's decision to part ways with five picks was the fact that draft picks were like pennies to then-head coach Tom Thibodeau: how valuable can such selections be when touted talents like Tyler Kolek still struggle to get into blowouts? The Bridges trade, while fully open to criticism and interpretation, had its undeniable benefits from the get-go, even if a landscape that thrives on metropolitan negativity, no matter how misguided.

A team like the Magic, however, is vastly different: never one to attract high-profile free agents, Orlando is often forced to play its transactional chips at the draft. Once that talent is obtained and then fostered, the Magic have to push forward and make the most of a contention window before big budget groups (cough, the Los Angeles Lakers, cough) pounce. The uncertainty surrounding Jayson Tatum's medical situation in Boston might've only made Orlando more desperate and eager to contend, even if it came at the expense of somewhat shrinking the gap between the aforementioned content wind and the sill.

The Magic are in the midst of such potential prosperity: they've built a homegrown foundation from ground up, building a solid marquee with Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs, and Franz Wagner. Injuries may have interrupted Central Floridian progress last year, but this season's Eastern Play-In victors are looking to turn first-round playoff showings into a norm rather than a treat.

Does Bane help push the Magic closer to that goal? Possibly, but the Magic no doubt handicap themselves in the process. What if this ordeal crashes and falls, just like the way it did in Phoenix with three more well-rounded talents (Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant) than the Magic's active triumvirate? Is adding what basically amounts to a Bridges clone with a shorter wingspan the right solutions to such problems?

What if they want to go in a different direction like the Knicks did? At least Rose built himself a solid insurance plan, as names like OG Anunoby and Josh Hart (obtaining the latter for Cam Reddish has to be the finest New York City robbery since Spike Lee's "Inside Man") were acquired at a minimum price. Heck, even the Bridges deal bid farewell to no regularly used men unless one counts Bojan Bogdanovic, who didn't play a game this season. The same can't be said for the Magic, who lose two role players that build a bit of a home in Central Florida.

Rose won't get the credit, heck, he might not even get an apology. But he can at least rest easy knowing that he has no role in the most questionable deal on the Eastern Conference landscape from the past 365 days.

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