It looks like the Orlando Magic had a plan all along when they brought everyone back on their mediocre roster. They just wanted to trade all of them. The first one to go was Aaron Gordon in which Orlando got a great package back for him in my opinion.
It looks like the Nuggets should have just kept Jerami Grant all along. Instead, they have to give up a significant rotation player, their rookie, and a first round pick. While that pick won’t be relevant for quite some time, the statement still stands. As a Grizzlies fan, I felt the sting of Memphis being without their first round pick this season due to a Jeff Green trade from over 5 years ago.
Gordon isn’t a bad option of course. The athletic big man is averaging 14.6 points, 4.2 assists, 2.7 turnovers, 6.6 rebounds. The 2.7 turnovers is the most in his career and he has had declining production ever since the 2017-2018 season in which he was averaging 17.6 points per game. Nuggets fans will hope that was due to the Orlando Magic experiencing diminishing returns for a team that was never going to be a threat in the Eastern playoffs despite having starting level talent all over their team.
For Orlando, they get a very young piece coming back. It feels unfair to look at Hampton’ stats this year since he is averaging less than 10 minutes a game. Last year overseas, he had 8.8 points, 1.1 steals, 2.4 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 20 minutes per game. He was not a great three point shooter nor did he have a very good overall field goal percentage (40.7%) but I think the Magic is a nice home for him to develop because he seems to have a nice feel for the game overall.
The once revered 26 year old Gary Harris has not been himself for 3 seasons now. Taking out his rookie season, Harris is averaging a career low 9.7 points, .9 steals, 1.7 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 73.3% from the free throw line without a massive dip from his minutes per game. Harris was a big reason for the Nuggets new found success so it’s truly a wonder on why he has had such a drastic decline in production. Maybe he felt like he was not a big enough part of their plans moving forward and lost the motivation to play the game as hard. Harris will have an opportunity to be their starting PG for years to come. He could even start at the 2 guard position if Markelle Fultz is able to come back and improve the way he was before tearing his ACL this season.
