I’ll start: Wendell Carter Jr.
His points are way down, dropping from 15.2 to 9.4 as is his outside shooting, from 35.6% to 31.3%. To add to his struggles, he broke his hand five games in and needed surgery. In the interim, Orlando has become one of the hottest teams in the league without him.
However, as a versatile big who can play the 4 or 5, and can shoot from outside while last year putting up 85% at the rim, now might be a great time to buy low. Also averaging 8 rpg. He’s only 24 so on Luka’s timeline. His contract is also very good.
Although his sample size is small, CraftedNBA rates him the 5th in the league under “Best Rim Protectors” with opponents shooting 20% worse than “expected” and a 42.9% FG% at the rim. I think he is insanely underrated - especially now in a down year - and Orlando’s frontcourt depth makes him somewhat expendable. He can start as the PF next to Lively with his outside shooting and perimeter versatility, and we can keep one or the other on court at all times to have a legit rim protector (or two). I would consider trading multiple of Hardy, Green or OMax and even putting the 2027 1st on the table if they’ll take Kleber or Holmes instead.
WCJ is kind of big time, and really important for their young wing and guard heavy team. No way they trade him for any of our worse guards and wings and one 1st.
The thing is they have a pretty stacked frontcourt with the Wagners, Banchero, Bitadze, Isaac and WCJ and they are doing great without WCJ right now, beating contenders every night. I know he is important to them, but the fact that the Magic’s best stretch of basketball in maybe a decade coincides with his absence may mean they start considering listening to offers?
If I am being perfectly honest, and I said it even this summer, but my ideal scenario is a trade of Kyrie to Orlando for a package of Orlando’s young guys. Get guys on Luka’s timeline who are less redundant with Luka’s strengths and weaknesses. Orlando does it because Kyrie gets them a true floor general and they have a lot of depth they can consolidate into one All-Star. But now that Orlando is arguably the hottest team in the league they probably don’t want to rock the boat.
They have a stacked front court but none of those guys besides Bitadze and Mo, who aren’t starting quality, are centers.
Franz is a SG/SF, Paolo is a PF, Isaac is a SF/PF. Even though they’re playing well, there’s no way they want Goga Bitadze and Mo Wagner to be their center rotation for the future.