NBA Trade Rumors: 5 best destinations for Goran Dragic
By John Buhler
Orlando Magic
East, Southeast
The genesis of the Dragic trade rumors come from a Zach Lowe post (pun intended) on Friday, saying that teams have been interested in the Miami point guard. Lowe mentioned one team in particular that has its eye on Dragic: the Orlando Magic.
Orlando would actually be one of the better landing spots for Dragic. The Magic need to seriously upgrade the point guard position if head coach Frank Vogel wants any shot at making the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Keep in mind that Orlando has missed the NBA Playoffs four straight seasons since the infamous Dwight Howard trade with the Los Angeles Lakers in summer 2012.
Dragic would be a huge upgrade over Elfrid Payton, who is rapidly falling out of favor with the Magic, and D.J. Augustin, really just a backup point guard at this stage of his career. Orlando has the frontcourt pieces that could entice Riley to orchestrate a trade with a Southeast Division rival.
Riley would probably want power forward Aaron Gordon for Dragic straight up, but that doesn’t seem possible. Center Nikola Vucevic could be a candidate for a trade to the Heat for Dragic. Maybe Orlando would shop power forward Serge Ibaka or center Bismack Biyomobo. Orlando has too many big men!
In short, Orlando needs to make the Eastern Conference Playoffs for general manager Rob Hennigan to keep his job. Through 40 games, Orlando is 16-24 and only four games back of the division rival Washington Wizards (19-19) for the No. 8 seed in the East. Miami and Orlando could very well be trade partners. There are a lot of trade possibilities between these two Floridian rivals.