The Magic and the new management team of Hammond and Weltman told you something very matter-of-fact yesterday. Elfrid Payton was not their point guard of the future. You don't ship off 23 year old players who have been starters in the league and were drafted inside the top 15 for a 2nd round pick, unless you are discarding them completely.
To be more specific...The Magic will receive the second-best pick among Charlotte's 2018 second-round pick, Memphis' 2018 second-round pick and Miami's 2018 second-round pick. If the current standings hold, the Magic would end up with Charlotte's pick, 41st overall.
In a press conference yesterday, Magic Prez of basketball ops, Jeff Weltman explained the move by saying “We were concerned about what this summer would look like with free agency, with locking ourselves in financially”. Code for, we didn't have any interest in signing him after this season is up. Even Elfrid gets it. (Look @ his Tweet below)
I think most that saw this trade go down understand that, but certainly there are those out there (and I saw you on Twitter yesterday) who think the Magic gave up too quickly, or just didn't get enough in the trade.
What did you think when you saw the deal go down?
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