All of a sudden, the Orlando Magic are facing a small dilemma regarding guard Victor Oladipo.
A little less than a quarter into the season, the Magic shifted gears and moved Victor Oladipo to the bench. That would typically be enough to send signals the team was shelving plans for the former No. 2 overall pick. The trade winds seemed inevitable as the schedule creeps closer to the trade deadline.
Oladipo has shown flashes and, particularly lately, seems to be coming back to the production level he was at last year after a cold start to the season. Oladipo starting in place of an injured Elfrid Payton helped increase his role and his time on the ball some more.
By all accounts, though, Oladipo is not going anywhere even if he heads back to the bench once Payton returns.
Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reports it would take a “monster” trade to free Oladipo from the Magic. Oladipo is very much apart of the Magic’s future even if he is not in the starting lineup right now:
“The Magic have a role for Oladipo,” Kyler wrote. “He’ll be their sixth man this year and they’ll look at things in the offseason. For those that believe Oladipo is somehow obtainable in trade, he really is not. It would take a monster of a transaction to get Orlando to even seriously talk about it.”
Evan Fournier’s free agency will play a role in Oladipo’s future. Kyler writes the Magic may not be willing to pay an inflated price for Fournier to keep him and sacrifice Oladipo.
But Oladipo too needs to show he is worth that confidence too.
This season, Oladipo has struggled mightily to show progress as an efficient scorer. After closing the season producing all-star level numbers, Oladipo has failed to replicate that spark. As the team needed to change things to keep winning, Oladipo’s struggles became too much to bear. Especially with Evan Fournier playing so well.
Oladipo is averaging 13.1 points per game and shooting a 45.0 percent effective field goal percentage, all career lows. Coming off the bench, he is averaging a career-low 29.6 minutes per game too. Not a significant decrease from his rookie year though.
The three parts of Oladipo’s game that needed to improve were his outside shot, his finishing at the rim and his ability to get to the foul line. Oladipo is shooting 32.6 percent from beyond the arc this year after shooting 33.9 percent last year. He is now shooting 44.8 percent in the restricted area — the league average is 54.7 percent — after shooting 52.4 percent last year. And he is taking 2.6 free throw attempts per game, against 4.4 free throw attempts per game last year.
Oladipo’s failure to take the next step up has put the Magic in this tricky situation. He obviously still has that talent and potential. And the last few games, Oladipo has reminded everyone of what he is capable of.
With the Magic in the thick of a Playoff chase, the pressure to make a move to stay in that chase or to get into the Playoffs will come up. And that will put Oladipo squarely in the crosshairs for trade discussions.
The Magic will have to parse through all the information and what they believe Oladipo can be in the future to make a decision about his future in the short term before the Feb. 19 trade deadline.
As Orlando Sports Daily contributors Carson Ingle and Eric Lopez discuss in the segment from The Insiders Show on 1080 AM Sports Talk Florida above, the Magic are still sorting through this roster.
Orlando is not quite yet in a position to trade Oladipo, even if Fournier ends up beating him. It just does not make sense to do it yet.
The Magic have one more year guaranteed with Oladipo under his rookie contract. There is no rush to trade him. Particularly if Fournier ends up getting priced out and the Magic let him walk.
Oladipo still has value. That good player that gave everyone so much hope is still in there. He has shown flashes of it — see his triple-double effort against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the team’s second game.
Maybe he needed to find his fit with the new offense. Maybe he was forcing things or putting too much pressure on himself. Maybe defenses have changed how they defend him.
Oladipo has not lost confidence in himself. He is still trying to reach back and find that kind of play again.
The Magic should certainly wait on him at this point. There is no hurry to move him and having that potential on the bench is a luxury the team should not squander.
