C Jaxson Hayes
The Orlando Magic have agreed to a deal that will soon be finalized sending C Karl Anthony-Towns to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for C Jaxson Hayes and SG Chris Duarte.
"Although KAT was fabulous in his short amount of time here, we're very excited to bring in the young fella Jaxson and get him and Chris up to speed with what we're looking to do here. The Front Office discussed the move with myself and how they felt about the outlook here. We saw how Ja flourished as a lead scorer and how it started leading to wins for us and not to mention how Jakob has stepped up and meshed within the offensive flow", said Head Coach Nate McMillan.
"We feel Jaxson has tremendous defensive upside that we hope gets more exposure in our system."
When asked for comment Jaxson stated he was very happy to get a new opportunity with a young team who's been playing well and hopes to be a big part of the team perhaps vying for a Playoff or Play-In push.
SG Chris Duarte
The Magic also secured sharpshooting SG Chris Duarte as part of the deal to come in and help add some much needed 3pt shooting to spread the floor and clear lanes for Ja and the rest of the offense.
"Chris is someone I want to take under my wing and develop as we targeted him as part of the deal. He's got a good jumpshot, he's young, and he helps our bench tremendously as well", stated Assistant Head Coach Brian Shaw.
Chris told us he looks forward to getting more opportunities for minutes and hopes to even compete for a starting role.
Head Coach Nate McMillan also stated the role players such as OG Anunoby, Lu Dort, and Josh Okogie (all of which are on very team friendly contracts) really catch alot of flack but they just come in and do their jobs.
No one takes them seriously as they don't put up gaudy numbers or do anything that stands out on the highlights but their contributions go far beyond the scoreboard.
"What they come in and do is realize their role and get the ball to the guys who have more prominent roles such as scoring etc. They don't take away from those guys which is the whole point of being a quality role player", said McMillan.
And it shows as Orlando has gone 6-2 in their last 8 games when the offensive plan was changed due to KAT's injury.
Also of note there was a huge rumor that picked up steam via an insider posting on Twitter that the Magic had their eye on another player.
GF Luka Doncic
The rumor was Orlando was in talks to send we believe Karl Anthony-Towns and LaMelo Ball to Dallas or LaMelo and numerous picks to Dallas in exchange for Luka Doncic but there was a snag and talks didn't proceed further.
We can't confirm on the seriousness of the talks but there certainly was communication between the teams.
All we can say is stay tuned as the rumor mill keeps spinning as well as keep your eyes on the new look Magic.
Brighter days seem to be ahead!
Go Magic!
