Desmond Bane trade grades: Who won the stunning Grizzlies-Magic deal?
Desmond Bane trade grades: Who won the stunning Grizzlies-Magic deal?
Orlando is sending to Memphis the No. 16 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Phoenix's first-round pick in 2026, Magic 2028 unprotected first-rounder and Orlando's 2030 unprotected first, sources said. Pick swap is lightly protected in 2029. https://t.co/DeWziUWLkv — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 15, 2025
Changes were always likely for the Memphis Grizzlies after a season in which star point guard Ja Morant struggled in a new offensive system, head coach Taylor Jenkins was fired nine games before the playoffs and the team suffered an embarrassing first-round sweep at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
What those changes would look like, however, were a mystery until Sunday. And the first domino to fall is a stunning one, as the Grizzlies have agreed to trade Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for an incredible haul of picks and players, ESPN's Shams Charania reported.
Let's get into the details of the deal and grades.
Details of the Grizzlies and Magic deal
GRIZZLIES GET: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four 1st-round picks (2025, 2026, 2028, 2030) and 2029 first-round pick swap
MAGIC GET: Desmond Bane
Grizzlies grade:
Memphis just re-tooled for next season (or kickstarted a rebuild) and the team hasn't even moved its two best players, with Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. still on the team. Before we even get to the draft picks, swapping Bane for Caldwell-Pope and Anthony gives the Grizzlies more depth on the wings without sacrificing much in the way of shooting (if Caldwell-Pope can bounce back from a down year). If the Grizzlies want, they could run it back next season with the team as currently constructed and match this year's 48-win total -- if not exceed it.
But to be clear, grabbing four first-round picks and a pick swap in a deal for Bane is the big win here, even if Orlando's likely status as a playoff contender in the foreseeable future keeps those picks out of the lottery. The 2025 pick gets Memphis back into this year's first round, and the other picks give Memphis the flexibility to swing for a bigger star this summer if it so chooses -- or continue a full blow up, with a nice treasure chest of picks to start anew.
GRADE: A+
Magic grade:
The logic for Orlando is easy to follow here. The actual deal is a hard one to swallow. Bane is the exact type of player the Magic needed in a lineup that was bereft of shooting, as he's one of the best snipers in the NBA as a career 41 percent three-point shooter. With stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner in place, Orlando is ready to win now, and the Eastern Conference might be ripe for the taking with injuries (and costs) ravaging the Boston Celtics.
Here's the thing, though: the Magic just pushed their chips all in with this deal, and Bane isn't exactly an all-in kind of player. Especially not for a team that had the league's 27th-rated offense. He alone isn't coming close to fixing that. They'll desperately need some improvements from within for him to even have a marginal impact in how far they can go. I'll cut the Magic some slack in the fact that the 27-year-old Bane is under contract through 2029, so he fits perfectly into their window of pushing for contention. I'm just not sure he expands the window much.
GRADE: D+
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Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Desmond Bane trade grades for Magic-Grizzlies blockbuster
The post Desmond Bane trade grades for Magic-Grizzlies blockbuster appeared first on ClutchPoints. The Memphis Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic shocked the NBA world on Sunday morning, pulling off the first blockbuster trade of the NBA offseason. Desmond Bane is headed to Orlando in exchange for four unprotected first-round picks, a pick swap, Cole Anthony and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Advertisement This move comes on the heels of disappointing first round playoff losses for both teams, and it addresses glaring needs for both teams. The Magic needed another perimeter shooter and scorer to go along with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, and now they have that in Bane. On the other side, the Grizzlies needed to shake something up in an attempt to go backwards to get some more room to take a leap next year. The core of Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Bane seemed to have hit its ceiling, and now the Grizzlies have some breathing room to make a big roster pivot. How did each team make out in the deal? Here are grades for both teams for this Father's Day blockbuster. Magic get more star power, much-needed shooter A deal like this for Orlando feels like it needs to be discussed in two parts. Advertisement First, there is the addition of Bane, which looks like a home run. He is one of the elite perimeter shooters in the NBA and can work both on and off the ball. Bane can shoot off the catch and on the move and will give Orlando some immediate artillery on the perimeter. Bane can also handle the ball at times and initiate the offense, taking some burden off of Banchero and Wagner. With this extra ball handler, the Magic can use Banchero down low to attack mismatches, and they now have a true perimeter threat to deploy with him in the two-man game. Bane and Banchero are a great fit together on paper and it will be fascinating to see how they work together next season and beyond. Wagner's playmaking should also help set Bane up as an off-ball scorer, a role that he thrived in playing alongside Morant over the last few seasons. The Magic now have a lethal starting core of Banchero, Bane, Wagner and Jalen Suggs, which should immediately help them take a step forward next season. On the other side, the price of the trade has to bring the grade down a bit. The Magic gave up four unprotected first-round picks in this deal. Four!! Those include the No. 16 pick this year in a draft rich with potential role players. Crucially, it also included the Phoenix Suns' unprotected pick in 2026. Advertisement With the Suns coming off of a nightmare season and steamrolling toward a breakup with Kevin Durant, there is a chance that next season could go very poorly as well. That pick could end up being a valuable asset in the lottery in a 2026 NBA Draft that is expected to be full of talent. Giving up Cole Anthony and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as a salary match isn't as big of a deal considering what Bane brings on the court, but what happens if this core tops out short of a title? The Magic now don't have many avenues to pivot. This trade is just as much a bet on Banchero becoming a true superstar as it is on Bane lifting the Magic in the present and the future. While that could very well pay off, it's worth questioning whether Bane is the level of player that warrants a gamble this expensive. Grade: B- Grizzlies ready to build around Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. Dale Zanine-Imagn Images The Grizzlies clearly had to pivot after getting swept in the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder this season. They already made a big move to fire head coach Taylor Jenkins near the end of the regular season, and now they have made their big move to shake up the team. Advertisement It doesn't come as much of a surprise that Bane was moved. Morant is a beloved athlete in Memphis and Jackson has flashed so much two-way upside over the last few years, which left the TCU product as the odd man out. Now, the Grizzlies have plenty of flexibility to build around their two big-money stars. They get an extra draft pick this season to help supplement Morant and Jackson, and the Suns pick in 2026 could end up being very valuable as discussed above. Caldwell-Pope is on a bad contract and has a player option at the end of next season, but he could be moved next offseason on an expiring deal. He underperformed last season, but there is a chance that he could rebound in a better offensive ecosystem in Memphis. Anthony is on a team-friendly contract and has a club option after next season, so the Grizzlies have some control there. This opens up a lot of room for the Grizzlies to make a big move down the line, or to use the draft assets that they just brought in to make another swing this offseason. Kevin Durant, anyone? Grade: B+ Related: Mikal Bridges jokes go wild after Magic, Grizzlies' Desmond Bane trade Related: Magic, Grizzlies pull off Desmond Bane trade involving 5 1st-round picks
New York Times
36 minutes ago
- New York Times
In Desmond Bane trade, Grizzlies and Magic make opposite bets for the future
You normally wouldn't suspect the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies to be trade partners, since in many ways, the teams are birds of a feather. Both teams weathered multiple injuries en route to first-round playoff exits, both teams have young-ish rosters they're still figuring out but have now become expensive and, most importantly, both teams have the same strengths and weaknesses: A lot of defense and not much shooting. Advertisement Nonetheless, the Magic and Grizzlies cut a big deal Sunday, one that may be revelatory about the next steps for both teams and the mindset of where they stand. In essence, it was a challenging trade regarding the value of Desmond Bane to a contender on his current contract. Orlando's project still felt too undefined as it waited and waited to push its chips in, with too many random guys and not enough starter-level talent; Memphis, on the flip side, felt too boxed by Bane's salary and the team's lack of transactional flexibility. Before we go further, the details: The Grizzlies sent Bane to Orlando for guards Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony, the 16th pick in the 2025 draft, unprotected 2028 and 2030 first-round picks from Orlando, a top-two protected pick swap with Orlando in 2029 and an unprotected first in 2026 that could be Orlando's but may be involved in a complicated pick swap.* (*That swap merits its own analysis. The worst-case scenario is that it's just an unprotected first from Orlando. However, the lesser of Phoenix's or Washington's picks can be swapped with Orlando's pick in 2026; if the Wizards remain bad and the Suns fail to improve, this is a potential late lottery pick for Memphis. However, this pick is also top-eight protected on the Washington side. Thus, if we presume the Wizards will be brutally bad again, the Orlando swap can only happen if the Suns don't luck into jumping the Wizards on lottery night, resulting in the Wizards' pick being swapped with theirs. But wait, there's more! Additionally and confusingly, Memphis already owns another piece of this swap from a different trade, one that allows the Grizzlies to swap picks with whatever pick Phoenix has left after the Orlando swap … the same pick that was just traded to Memphis. So the Grizzlies now have the right to swap with a pick they already own. TL;DR: Memphis had one first in 2026, and now it has two. This pick is most likely Phoenix's, but maybe not. Advertisement So, back to the main question: Did the Magic really give up four firsts and a swap for Bane? And … why? While the cost of secondary stars has gone up in recent years (see: Bridges, Mikal), Bane is an interesting choice for the Magic because he's not an All-Star, and his contract is expensive. Yes, the deal is cap-neutral for the coming season, and we have to acknowledge that part of the draft-pick cost is for suboptimal contract money going outbound. However, the Magic are locked into four years and $163 million for Bane and are already facing an expensive roster in the coming years due to the max extension for Franz Wagner and the one likely coming for Paolo Banchero. That's the situation Memphis was trying to escape with Bane's deal next to Ja Morant's and a likely max deal for Jaren Jackson Jr. (more on that in a minute). Adding Bane's salary to the 2025-26 cap doesn't alter the math much; Orlando is likely to dip into the luxury tax and flirt with the first apron. However, a likely supermax for Banchero would put Orlando above the second apron in 2026-27 if he makes one of the All-NBA teams in 2025-26. The Magic have some outs between now and then with non-guarantees and team options, but this Jalen Suggs-Bane-Wagner-Banchero-Wendell Carter Jr. core is pretty locked in. Any further additions will be at the margins with the tax exception or via trades. Skill-wise, the Bane trade is significant for Orlando in one important respect: He's an awesome shooter with deep range, one who has made 41 percent from 3 for his career, and the Magic were last in the NBA in both 3-point makes and 3-point percentage in 2024-25. In terms of addressing a need, Orlando hardly could have done so with more of an exclamation point. Bane had been pressed into more on-ball reps the last two years in Memphis due to injuries and roster issues but should thrive playing off the ball next to Orlando's two high-usage forwards. Advertisement Off the ball, he is particularly adept at shot-faking defenders closing out on his catch, then reloading and launching once they've finished vaulting themselves into the seats. Like this. Adios, Ayo: However, Bane's addition has the knock-on effect of making defensive stopper Suggs a full-time point guard. Is this something he can handle, even with Wagner and Banchero taking so many on-ball reps? Do the Magic still need a point guard who can push tempo and touch the paint in the half court? Is that type of player still gettable with their remaining exceptions and assets? That part, I would say, is more a leap of faith and might be the tipping point in how Orlando looks back on this deal. If the lineup doesn't work, Orlando's next moves become complicated, as the Stepien Rule will prevent the Magic from trading any firsts until 2032. Bigger picture, the question is simpler: Was Bane the one? Orlando has been incredibly disciplined in keeping its powder dry while the Suggs-Wagner-Banchero trio developed. Setting sugarplum fantasies of Giannis Antetokounmpo aside, was this the best player the Magic could reasonably acquire with their pick haul? I think that's where you can view this trade most favorably for Orlando. Four picks sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that their future picks weren't going to be highly valued in trade talks because of the presumption that the team will be good — Wagner is 23, and Banchero is 22. Thus, the 16th pick in 2025 and the complex potential Phoenix swap in 2026 were their most valuable assets, and the first of those was about to die on the vine. Meanwhile, the team is about to get expensive and has expectations that come with that. If the time to push its chips in and make a move wasn't right now, it was certainly now-adjacent. The Magic didn't need to add more developmental players in the next two drafts. Bane, who turns 27 this month, is also a much better timeline fit in Orlando than some of the other trade prospects out there. Plus, the fact that he's a guard means he doesn't mess with the Wagner-Banchero forward lineup. Advertisement Finally, the other aspect we can't ignore is the state of the Eastern Conference. With injuries to Jayson Tatum and Damian Lillard, the East seems wide open for 2025-26. Orlando has to be looking at the Indiana Pacers and thinking, 'Why not us?' Even the biggest skeptic of the price the Magic paid has to acknowledge that this roster, at worst, should be one of the four best in the East next season. That takes us to the flip side of this trade: If Bane is so good, why was Memphis willing to move on from him? First things first: The Grizzlies aren't tanking or tearing things down or anything close to that. In fact, they theoretically are in just as much of a win-now mode as the Magic. They just changed coaches because they 'only' won 48 games and have two All-Stars in their mid-20s in Morant and Jackson. Agreeing to this deal had to hurt a little. A homegrown development project after the Grizzlies stole him with the 30th pick in the 2020 draft, Bane was the best shooter on a roster that mostly lacked shooting and a tireless worker with unimpeachable character. And yet … when I talked to other executives about the Grizzlies for this story in April, Bane's contract was seen more as a problem than a positive. A non-All-Star on a near-max deal, he can't fit into every salary structure and will push most good teams into the tax aprons, as he will in Orlando. This trade gives Memphis a reset of sorts. The Grizzlies get a short-term replacement in the 3-and-D role in Caldwell-Pope and, in the longer term, a clearer pathway for Jaylen Wells to play shooting guard, where Memphis prefers him. The Grizzlies will get a potential swing in the draft at No. 16 after their pick went out in the Marcus Smart salary dump and a big dollop of future draft capital. That last part is perhaps the most important element of that story, as I don't think the Grizzlies made this trade because they were fired up about the 2030 draft. Memphis made this deal to get the assets and cap flexibility to make other deals; scuttlebutt already has the Grizzlies making calls about a few targets. Advertisement In the short term, the Grizzlies are likely to use cap space to renegotiate and extend Jackson's contract — this deal was cap-neutral* in that respect — and then use their room exception for frontcourt help. (*The trade reduced Memphis' available cap room by $2.2 million, for the moment. Memphis has $4.5 million in room, including Santi Aldama's $11.88 million cap hold. The magic number the Grizzlies are trying to get to is likely at or near $13 million, which would allow them to renegotiate and extend Jackson with a four-year max at 30 percent of the cap. They can hit that number by trading John Konchar and moving down from the 16th pick to the last couple of spots in the first round, or by trading Konchar and Jay Huff to move down only a few spots.) The Grizzlies can't aggregate the salaries of Anthony or Caldwell-Pope until late in the summer, but Anthony in particular could be involved in deals right away given his de facto expiring contract. (He has a $13.1 million team option for 2026-27.) For instance, it's quite possible that the Grizzlies make small salary moves that let them use cap space on the Jackson extension, then turn around in July and use Anthony's contract and one or more of the future picks to take money back. Even after they extend Jackson, pay Aldama and use the projected $8.8 million room exception, they'll have at least $15 million in float below the projected tax line. Anthony can be traded for up to $20.6 million in returning salary, which would put him in range for players such as P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, Deni Avdija, Keegan Murray, Cam Johnson, Jakob Poeltl and Isaiah Stewart, to name a few possibilities from a quick trawling session through the league's cap sheets. Anthony could also be used in a sign-and-trade for a player who made up to that amount, such as Naz Reid or Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Big picture, here's the important takeaway: The Magic were OK overpaying for Bane in raw terms because they felt the fit was one of the last pieces in their build-a-contender puzzle. The Grizzlies, despite their recent success, felt the opposite and took a deal that seemed too good a value to pass up. Finally, get your popcorn: Memphis has maximized its available assets — the Grizzlies have 10 firsts and three swaps in their war chest — for the moves that will inevitably follow as it retools the supporting cast around Morant and Jackson; starting-caliber small forwards and centers likely top the shopping list. Look for Orlando to stay active, too, playing small ball around its suddenly defined core. It's a great way to kick off transaction season because it sets the table for more deals to come. (Top photo of Desmond Bane and Franz Wagner: Justin Ford / Getty Images)
San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Florida's third and fourth lines are grinding down Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Final
Brad Marchand joked that when he was traded to the Florida Panthers from the Boston Bruins, he looked at the lineup and wondered if he would be playing on the fourth line again. 'Back to my roots,' Marchand said. Sorry, Brad. There was no room there. But coach Paul Maurice figured the third line alongside young Finns Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen was the perfect place for Marchand, and it has worked out swimmingly. The Marchand-Lundell-Luostarinen trio is responsible for six goals in the Stanley Cup Final, and the gritty fourth line of A.J. Greer, Tomas Nosek and Jonah Gadjovich has been a big part of wearing down the Edmonton Oilers to take a 3-2 lead in the series going into Game 6 on Tuesday night. 'We're not here without them,' Maurice said Sunday. 'Both of those lines have a strong identity, and they shape the identity of our team.' All three of Greer, Nosek and Gadjovich were healthy scratches for the opening two games of the second round against Toronto. Florida lost those games, Maurice brought them back and the Panthers won that series in seven and rolled over Carolina in the Eastern Conference final. In the Cup final, the third and fourth lines have not only helped at even strength but against Edmonton's potent power play, holding it to four goals on 23 opportunities, a 17.4% conversion rate. That, combined with tilting the ice on the Oilers, has been a recipe for success, especially after Greer returned from injury in time for Game 3. 'The Lundell line is producing offense, Marchand's producing offense, these guys have good numbers but they're all penalty killers,' Marchand said. 'That's what makes them special because there's no cheat in their game.' More travel There was only one day between Games 4 and 5 going from Sunrise to Edmonton. There is an extra travel gap to return to Florida, but it's still a five-plus hour flight for each team Sunday. 'It's part of the NHL schedule: a lot of travel,' Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. "There's a lot of science behind it of the importance of sleep, nutrition, all that recovery, exercises that go into it just so that the players are feeling at their best or as close to their best as they can.' Vanecek's recognition Sergei Bobrovsky has been the Panthers' starting goaltender this entire playoff run. Backup Vitek Vanecek only got some attention after cameras caught him and the Oilers' Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard in a stare down during warmups prior to Game 4. 'I was just doing my routine,' Vanecek said. In Game 5, Vanecek watched from his usual seat at the end of the bench as Bobrovsky made 19 saves to push Florida to the verge of another championship. Afterward, Gadjovich — who got the game puck for fighting in Game 3 — handed it to Vanecek. 'There's a great recognition (and) care in the room for all the hard work that goes on,' Maurice said. 'Some of those guys don't get to be on the ice for a celebration after a win, but they're critical to the group, to the personality of the group and the closeness of it.'
