A year later, Orlando Magic clear winners of Dwight Howard trade

It’s been a little over a year now since the big four team trade that involved the Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Orlando Magic. Many players were moved. As last season went on, the Nuggets seemed to be the winners of the trade. Their team had a franchise best record with Andre Iguodala playing the lead role. The 76ers never had a chance to use their prize, Andrew Bynum. The Lakers struggled all season before ultimately getting swept in the first round of the playoffs. The Magic got a little something special from the Sixers: Nikola Vucevic.

As a Sixers fan, I was pretty pissed to see Vucevic doing his thing in Orlando. Sixers fans were upset because we never gave him playing time to do anything that he was doing with the Magic. Combine that with the Andrew Bynum mess, and it was an overall frustrating experience.

So, why are the Magic the winners of the trade? Why not the Nuggets? Welp, while Iguodala made a great impact for the team, he’s gone. He’s moved on. And, the Nuggets only get one year of him. Lakers were apparently doomed from the start. Sixers never had a chance. So, we’ll go with Nuggets vs Magic.

You could say Vucevic is the classic “good player on bad team” guy where his stats are just inflated. But, he could be a future star. Could be. He’s probably never going to be on the level of Shaq and Dwight, but he could eventually be a starter for an eventual contender on the Magic.

It would appear that the Magic got the steal in this trade and with the such short term results for the other teams, it would seem the Magic are set. No, Nikola isn’t a franchise player. No, no, no. But, in a league that doesn’t have a lot of great Centers, you take a guy like Vucevic and hold on tight baby.

What do you think? Who won that big trade?