EP. 527 – Desmond Bane – Orlando Magic Podcast
this is the Sixman Show an Orlando Magic podcast with your hosts Kevin Tucker and Jonathan Osborne covering all things Magic Basketball by fans for fans go Magic what’s going on Orlando Magic fans you guys are back with the six-man show today is June 16th 2025 jonathan Osborne here as always joined by my co-host Kevin Tucker we are recording this on Father’s Day so Kevin first of all happy Father’s Day how are you doing happy Father’s Day to you and uh this Father’s Day did not go how I expected uh expected you’re going to be a father again oh I don’t know about that i was going to say you know we got a new daddy in Orlando type thing you know i don’t know but uh Oh my god yeah you heard me this is this is off to a hot start off the rails already i expected a very normal calm peaceful Sunday Father’s Day and at about 11:08 a.m eastern time all of that got thrown aside but in the best way possible what a day uh Jonathan how was your Sunday sunday was pretty chill first couple hours i uh like you and a lot of others I was at church uh I was serving during our second service at that point yeah like second service was about to end and I was having a conversation and all of a sudden I was like man my phone has really been buzzing these last you know four or five minutes or so and I pull out my phone and I see that our you know sixman group chat is going crazy so I just went to Twitter i didn’t even check to see what was happening there i just went right to Twitter i knew that something had happened and I see the Sham’s notification that the Magic have traded Contavis Cowell Pope Cole Anthony and four first round picks to the Memphis Grizzlies for Desmond Bane and when things like this happen my mind just kind of goes blank it’s one of those things that is pretty difficult to process automatically um so yeah I just walked around my church for like five minutes just completely blank stared um went outside made a a quick kind of reaction to it just so we could get something out there and then I just kind of proceeded to read Twitter for like the next 15 minutes until the next uh church service started and here we are now yeah uh I’m I’m still not a like honestly I was in kind of disbelief that that it happened number one until like I honestly until the Magic PR and the official Magic Twitter account posted it I was like in disbelief once they posted I was like “Man this is real what a crazy day.” And it’s not that we didn’t expect a Magic trade to happen of course we did like every Magic fan knew a trade was coming this off seasonason at least one i just I on this show I said I didn’t expect it to happen until draft day and so the fact that we got it 10 days early is a surprise the other surprise and maybe bigger surprise is who it was desmond Bane was not on at least that I saw not on anybody’s radar for guys that the Magic could be targeting you know in their attempt to go into win now mode i never saw Desmond Bane’s name but also in part because I didn’t think he was available i didn’t think the Memphis Grizzlies were offering Desmond Bane i thought they were pretty happy with him and happy with you know some of what they have going on there obviously they had to do a coaching change so that may may not be perfectly happy with everything there but all of that combined to that’s what made today just so jaw-dropping because of who it was when it was and obviously another thing you got to talk about is what it cost you know what it cost to acquire Desmond Bane and I know we’re going to talk about that but yeah all of that combined is kind of why I’m still just shocked like we’re recording this nine hours after the news and I’m still like what a whirlwind of a day i just didn’t see it coming and we do have a conversation coming up later in the episode with Daniel Greer from Grizz 901 Live covers you know the Memphis Grizzlies this is a live postgame show for them we’re going to talk with him about obviously Desmond Bane but also kind of like the Grizzlies perspective on this so stay tuned for that um but yeah we’ll talk about sort of like what I call the cost of doing business um and to talk about really all of the official trade details if I pull the Sham’s tweet back up i just had it here so really quick I was just going to say while you’re doing that total aside but go ahead okay this is this is total aside you mentioned that we’re um that we’ve got uh a guest coming on the show to talk about the Grizzly side just want to mention really fast we had someone else lined up for this episode cuz we were going to talk about just the draft talk about 16 and 25 and all those kinds of things so I want to give him a shout out because it was his first going to be his first time on the show derek Parker is his name he does great draft breakdowns on YouTube so go check out his YouTube channel uh you can find him on Twitter or XD Park last two letters are okay because he also covers the Thunder so he’s very busy right now covering the Thunder for the finals so I just wanted to give him a shout out he was great to work with we were pumped to have him on the show but after this happened today we’re like Derek sorry but like pick number 16 no longer relevant we got to talk about this so anyway now that he was very understanding and and gracious you know about the whole thing and totally understood uh so full details around this trade the Magic send the number 16 pick in the 2025 NBA draft phoenix’s first round pick in 2026 which is really like the you know better pick between Washington and or the worst pick I guess between Washington and Phoenix looks like that’s going to be the Phoenix pick um in 2026 a 2028 unprotected firstrounder 2020 uh 2030 unprotected first and then a pick swap that is lightly protected in 2029 if everything goes accordingly that pick swap really isn’t going to matter hopefully we’re the plan is to be better than the Grizzlies you know four years from now but really the entire point here is that these picks should be like the mid to high 20s that we’re trading away so we’re not talking about you know unprotected first that are going to be you know like high lottery picks potentially the whole goal and the whole thinking behind this move is that those picks are essentially going to be like second round picks and listen well I guess we’ll talk about this now we’ll talk about Contavius Cowwell Pope we’ll talk about Cole Anthony contavius Cwell Pope you know the deal that the Magic signed you know last year him making roughly you know $23 million vastly underperformed offensively this year really was a disappointment and then Cole Anthony who the Magic extended last year he has underperformed as well has not played up really to his contract and what the Magic needed and expected when they signed him to that deal so in a vacuum if you were looking to trade KCP and get anything of value back or if you were trying to trade Cole Anthony and get anything of value back you most likely were going to have to attach additional assets to be able to make those moves so the way that I am grading this is this is really two to two and a half first round picks that you’re trading for Desmond Bane and the rest of the picks you’re trading for teams to take Contavius Cowell Pulp and Cole Anony’s contracts on so when you consider all of that this to me we were asking for like a home run off season so far to start this this is a walk-off grand slam like we were throwing out and and this is not a slight any of these players if the Magic end up acquiring any of the players I’m about to mention in addition to Desmond Bane we’ll be doing back flips over here at the six-man show but as we were you know evaluating the potential of trading for Anthony Simons or Kobe White or you know um Colin Ston any of these guys none of us thought that a move for a guy like Desmond Bane was possible in our estimation and and most people will tell you that Desmond Bane is by far and away better on both ends than either of those names that we had mentioned so what we were saying this would be awesome if like we got Anthony Simons we’d be freaking out we’d be doing all this kind of stuff getting Desmond Bane 24 hours ago was not a possibility in my mind so there are still moves that need to be made decisions that need to be made this off season this front office is not done you know it may not be another major move but there will be other additional perhaps minor moves but this is off to as good of a start as you could have asked it’s funny you know before we got on here I I made some notes that almost exactly align with what you just said i wrote down JJ Spawn just sunk like a 40ft putt to win the US Open wow absolutely unbelievable i’m sorry to as if as if this day couldn’t get any better good grief amazing good for him almost won the players championship went into the playoff with Rory Maroy lost and now is your US Open champion what a freaking day what a day what a day indeed okay this is what I was saying i wrote this down before we got started you and I didn’t talk about this at all and so the fact that we just thought the same way is very funny i wrote down I broke down this trade as well in multiple trades one first round pick was for KCP’s contract you can’t trade KCP after the year he had this past year and the contract he’s on without attaching a first round pick so I said one first round pick was for for Casey P’s contract one first round pick to me is to not include Jaylen Suggs in a deal that’s not worth nothing cuz I Anthony Black Tristan Silva I almost guarantee you assuming the Magic are the one who who initiated this they called Memphis they said “We want Desmond Bane.” The first thing they say is “Okay give us Jaylen Suggs.” I can almost guarantee it right so one first round pick is for KCP one first round pick was to not include Jaylen Suggs the pick swap for me is like you said to take on Cole and then it’s two first round picks for Desmond Bane that’s exactly how I broke it down same thing like it to me that’s it’s on paper you look and you hear like the big number four first round picks and a pick swap for Desmond Bane you hear that and you go “Wow.” And and at first even when I saw it I’m like “Wow that’s a lot.” But when you think about it when you think about the the fact that those most of those picks are going to be late picks you know in the 20s you think about who they were trading KCP and Cole picks had to be added the thing that hurts is that Phoenix Washington pick situation right that one hurts that’s probably going to be a very good pick but do the Magic need like Phoenix has given no indication that they’re just going to bottom out like they’re going to trade KD for you know they’ve been win now veteran moves things like that like if they’re anywhere near like you know the play like what that’s going to be like the 15th pick in that draft that doesn’t move me and that is not getting in the way of me trading for Desmond Bane of course no of course not i’m not saying that but I’m saying like if if any one of those pan out it’s probably going to be that one as something who’s that’s worth anything all of that combined makes makes all this make sense so yeah on paper the four first round and I also just got to add the the the number of times I’ve been seeing four unprotected first round picks on the internet people freaking out when one of those picks is for 10 days from now we already know what that pick is going to be that pick is going to be number 16 it’s not going to magically jump into the lottery in the next 10 days all right so it’s pick number 16 this year it’s three unprotected firsts and the pick swap that’s how I break it down all of that like to me I just it’s such a home run and the last thing I’ll say about at least this stuff is this i think most Magic fans should be absolutely over the moon for this and I think they are most fans are i still see a lot of people on social media that are negative and I want to say a couple things to that number one you wanted a big move i don’t know any Magic fan that didn’t want a significant change this summer you got it okay number two Magic fans wanted to get rid of some of the dead weight and no offense no disrespect to KCP and Cole and I know we’ll talk about them maybe in a little bit but they they were poor last year and you were able to offload that so you wanted those things these things happen and now we’re still unhappy i can’t justify it except if you look at this roster and say there was a different type of player that you wanted to acquire I can understand it right if you’re saying I really wanted a Trey Young a LaMelo Ball even though I don’t know how the money would ever work but let’s say that’s who you wanted I can maybe listen but outside of that like Desmond Bane checks literally all the boxes it is such a massive upgrade to KCP in that role even even if KCP had a good year even if this year was a good KCP year Desmond Bane is still a significant improvement over KC even if we got the best case scenario Contavius Cowwell Poke this season this is still a significant upgrade offensively still and then you factor in KCP not having a good year KCP getting older who knows what KCP is going to look like in the future and it’s just it’s just a home run it is such a home run like we haven’t even talked about the shooting percentages yet we haven’t even gotten into the Desmond Bane the player that’s where I want to go next please so let’s do that if you’re not familiar with Desmond Bane one you’re about to be uh but this year he played 69 games averaged 19.2 points 6.1 rebounds 5.3 assists 1.2 steals on 14.8 attempts shot 48.4% from the floor as a guard on 6.1 attempts shot 39.2% from three and shot almost 90% from the free throw line the Memphis Grizzlies this year were 48 and 34 with John missing 30 plus games and Desmond Bane essentially being their primary ball handler for a significant chunk of the season and this is not just a guy again not to you know rake contavis Cowwell Pope over the Kohl’s or whatever that’s a I guess interesting choice of words given the fact that we traded Cole Anthony as well but this is not a guy who we’re just going to ask to sit in the corner and hit open threes desmond Bane is a guy who’s going to be able to you know catch and shoot you know make threes off the dribble um you know threes in transition create some you know offense on his own as well you know the uh you know over five assists per game like this is a guy who is capable of running at times and facilitating the offense for the Magic so in every possible way this is an upgrade for the Magic offensively also one of the better cutters in the league and is no slouch defensively i wouldn’t say he’s quite at the level that Contavius Cwell Pope was but he is not that much of a drop off either josh Cohen who we literally just had on our last episode within hours of this trade had like a 9-minute breakdown that he posted um I don’t know if he posted it to his YouTube but I know he posted it to his Twitter page uh basically a full like film breakdown with film and you know editing video and all of that on Desmond Bane you can go through and find a lot of the things that I was just referencing i would love for you all to go and view that so I’m not going to give you everything here but one of the biggest takeaways uh from that video there’s a stat that Josh gives since 2020 he’s shooting 44.3% from the top of the key on 610 attempts that is first out of 186 players with 200 plus attempts during that time so since he has come into the league he has been the most efficient shooter in the league from the top of the ark also shoots 41% on threes off the dribble which is third best out of players with 200 plus attempts during that time you cannot tell me that this was not exactly what the Magic needed and it’s insane because again 24 hours ago I did not ever think that this was possible and I was not convinced that the DeFos family was ready to open up the checkbook and go all the way in on this and now they are basically going to be a tax team very close they will be over the second apron if they do not you know um resend some of the like team options and and or um reject I guess some of the team options that are available this summer with guys like Mo Vagner Cory Joseph Caleb Houston etc so a lot of criticisms has have been thrown around recently about oh the Devos family isn’t willing to pay for this we have been criticizing Jeff Welman of like hey you haven’t been making deals wind horses out here saying you don’t do trades you don’t make calls that this and the third and a lot of those criticisms are seeming null and void as of right now yeah and the thing like the shoot first off if you’re watching on YouTube like as Jonathan was reading off those shooting numbers I’m just like going into a coma over here cuz it’s just the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard we’re not used to that we’ve been through this before he has to come here and still make the shots of course absolutely has to that’s what we need to see but just knowing that that’s a possibility is crazy um okay so yeah obviously the shooting stuff is great the other thing that we haven’t even even mentioned yet there’s two parts of this Desmond Bane thing that I think are really important number one he’s younger significantly younger than KCP he turns 27 next week so right now we can say we traded for a 26-y old right so he’s significantly younger fits the timeline for the Magic and the other thing that’s really important is he’s locked in he’s locked into his deal this isn’t like some of the guys that Jeff Welman talked about potentially dealing for at the deadline where they were going to be rentals or maybe guys this summer that were going to be one-year rentals or maybe even two-year rentals uh Desmond Bane’s locked in for a while and so on the one hand the financials get interesting right because you say “Wow Desmond’s going to make $40 million in a couple years you got Jaylen you got Fron you got Powell all making a ton of money.” We’ll have to figure that out yes but at least we know we know what Desmond Bane is going to be paid over these next four years or whatever is left on his contract and so that cannot be understated as well it gives the Magic opportunity to build around it and figure out the rest um but yeah it’s it’s just one of those things like I can see you know that that phrase I can see the vision right like you can you can see the vision now like obviously we knew Powell and Fron’s cornerstones Jaylen’s right there with him but you add a 26 now 27 year old Desmond Bane plus honestly pick a center I don’t care Wendell whatever it it’s it’s just I see the vision like this team to me is dangerous starting today by the way this is not a like oh that that’s another great piece for a few years from now this team is dangerous starting today and that is just so excit I I’m just so so excited this is great so going over the financials so in millions Desmond Bane over the course of the next few years starting with this upcoming season is owed 36.7 then 39.4 42.1 and 44.8 so this team is getting expensive in a hurry but Jeff Welman and the Devos family literally put their money where their mouth is and said this is we are in win now mode and this is a move that do we think that this happens this way if Indiana does not make the finals like if the finals ends up with the Boston Celtics Jason Tatum doesn’t get injured you know Chris Borzingis looks great all of that stuff if if this playoffs goes a little bit differently maybe teams aren’t so like ready with the trigger that it seems that they are now the East legitimately is wide open when I look at the East next year because of what we’ve seen from Cleveland in the playoffs you cannot convince me that the Magic can’t be in the Eastern Conference final finals or even the NBA Finals next year at this rate i do think there are still moves that need to be made i would like to see an upgrade at the center position still i don’t know how feasible that’s going to be at this point but I’m kind of right there with you like the rest of that starting lineup is absolutely good enough that the guys that we have are are are definitely serviceable and and probably good enough and then I think with moving on from Cole Anthony you know given his inconsistency whatever what have you I still think you need to add a bench scorer to this to this lineup now does that come in the fashion of Tristan Dilva taking a big step or does Jet Howard finally work out i know that’s very unlikely but is there an answer on the roster i’m not sure could the Magic still go out and find a way to make a move for uh Nquille Alexander Walker or you know can they find like a value guy like a Tias Jones or something like that a guy who Magic fans have been interested in the past could they still make a move like that if you if you fill the holes that we kind of still see in this lineup you just cannot convince me that it’s not possible for the Magic to make the finals next year and don’t forget pick number 25 is still ours that’s the other thing you know 25th overall pick still in play here that’s the Denver pick that we acquired uh so that’s still in play that’s going to fill a spot yeah it’s just it’s hard at least for me like I I’m I was a big Desmond Bane fan before this and so like again like we talked about I just never thought he could be on this team so the fact that he is now it’s hard for my mind not to go crazy and think about the possibilities the other thing with Desmond Bane like you you went through some of his numbers he honestly if he’s in the Eastern Conference he probably already has an All-Star appearance by now probably three or four of them yeah like he’s leg he’s a legitimate all-star level player and don’t forget he has had to step up a lot at Memphis for John Mar’s different absences for various reasons injury or otherwise right he’s had to step up a lot and he’s proven very reliable in that and that’s the other thing like Dan Savage uh was tweeting out a bunch of different you know Desmond Bane facts one of the things we talk about so much that this team needs is another initiator another facilitator And Desmond Bane actually brings some of that not fulltime he’s not a lead guard or whatever but Dan Savage mentioned that he averaged 22.9 so basically 23 times a game he brought up the the ball for the Grizzlies 23 times a game that’s not nothing right and so it’s it’s another option to alleviate the pressure from Powell and Fron not just when they’re off the court but even when they’re on the court like another guy between Jaylen you know now a healthy Jaylen a Desmond Bane those two guys can also bring the ball up and let Fron and Powell play off the ball more but then the other thing that you man I I know I’m just like this episode we’re just all over the place there was no plan we’re just like just rolling about all this stuff with Desmond Bane the other thing I keep thinking about is like think about all the times that Paulo attracted two three four defenders on his way to the rim if Desmond Bane is Desmond Bane you can’t do that anymore like defenses can’t do that you cannot leave a 40% three-point shooter wide open all the time like I’m just I’m just picturing defensive defenses scrambling right because either you got to you got to deal with Paulo and if you if you’re dealing with Paulo fine we’ll give it to Fron and if all of a sudden you find some way to deal with Paulo and Fron together oh here’s Desmond Bane like that should get Magic fans really excited at least it does for me the Sixman Show is brought to you by our friends over at Jam Hot Chicken who are bringing jams culture and hot chicken to the heart of Winter Park we’re big fans of Jam Hot Chicken 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to join in support what we’re doing here head on over to patreon.com/the6manshow and now let’s get back to the episode kevin I want to take you back to a point i don’t you you’re you know quite a few years older than I am just just just a year but I want to take you back i was 13 years old in the summer of 2007 when the Magic acquired one Rashard Lewis who you know in his own right was an all-star you know with Seattle um and what was kind of some people thought it was a bit of an overpay when the Magic signed and in and traded for Rashard Lewis you know I think what was what was it close to $120 million something like that at the time they made that trade dwight Howard I believe was 22 years old in the second year Rashard Lewis with the Orlando Magic they go to the NBA finals paliban Carro is 22 years old come on we just traded for Desmond Bane and I have this tweet here and I’m not not directly trying to compare the two this is no slight at Rashard Lewis anything like that but if you look at both of these guys in their last season before being traded to the Magic Rashard was 27 Desmond Bane’s 26 in 69 games Desmond Bane averaged 19.2 rashard Lewis in 60 games averaged 22.4 desmond Bane 6.1 rebounds rashard 6.6 bane 5.3 assists rashard 2.4 bane 1.2 steals rashard 1.1 desmond 0.4 blocks rashard 0.7 desmond shot 48% from the floor rashard 46 desmond Bane 39.2% from behind the ark rashard Lewis 39% bane 89.4% at the free throw line rashard 84% at the free throw line desmond Bane with a 56.5% effective field goal percentage rashard Lewis with the 53.6% effective field goal percentage this is this generation’s Rashard Lewis trade potentially Rashard Lewis trade worked out better than any of us ever could have imagined if the Desmond Bane trade can work out in a similar fashion the Magic could very soon find themselves in the NBA finals yeah I this I didn’t on paper top to bottom I think might be the most talented magic team of all time i I was with I was right there with you Jonathan i was right there with you till the end tell me where does the logic not track the top top four players i could maybe think about it correct you said top to bottom the bottom of this roster is still not good is it yes it is not good i think Okay i don’t think top end talent top end talent definitely okay top to bottom maybe incorrect probably incorrect top end talent i don’t think there’s a question it’s it’s I I still I still push back a little bit like think about the four best players in 2009 2010 dwight Turk Rashard Jir like Win Healthy Jir you know like to me that’s Well 2009 2010 we’re talking about VC right that’s totally different yeah that’s that’s and that version of VC Vince that that’s the that’s the best regular season Magic team of all time if you ask me correct could this team could this team go out there and surpass him maybe but I don’t know i’m not quite ready there and especially like once you go past those four I do not think this team is you know the best but I the other thing is like this East like you know those teams back then they had different teams to compete with and all that kind of stuff you know Boston had their three-headed monster big three whatever you want to call it and obviously the East has our own challenges but like you said it’s feels very wide open and it feels like it’s there for the taking not just talking about next year but I feel like the Magic are ready to like establish their presence long term like we talked about Desmond Bane’s locked up uh Fron Paulo Jaylen all locked up for the foreseeable future and that’s that’s different that’s something that sets this move apart from some of the other moves this has been compared to the biggest one that I’ve seen on social media is the Mikuel Bridges trade from you know last off season the difference is the timelines are just so different right and I think there’s a real argument to make that Desmond Bane is better than Muel Bridges i think that’s very possible very possible i did want to say we we’ve just sat here and just gone on and on about how great it is and it is great like obviously it’s great it would be a disservice to not mention maybe one or two things that I think are worth pointing out the first thing is health desmond Bane has not had a perfect track record health-wise played you know like you said 69 games last season but before that 42 games and 58 games in the two seasons prior you know so injuries have been an issue with Desmond Bay in the past but three out of the five seasons he’s been mostly healthy and so you’ll take that um but that is something to keep an eye on obviously we can’t afford to be having more injuries you know next season or beyond um so I think that’s worth pointing out um and then yeah I mean outside of that though like what what can you what can you look at in his game and say it’s something to be concerned about or something to keep an eye on in in the context of this Magic team right like he’s not going to have to be the guy like sure there will be moments where I I want to run the the offense through him i want him to take over he’s a guy can can get hot he scored what 4950 in one of these games this past season went seven of seven from three yeah like I want that to happen but that doesn’t have to be every night and so that’s not an issue defense like you said already a very good defender throw him in with the rest of this crew it’s just I don’t think you’re going to lose anything on the defensive end so that’s not a concern uh he’s going to shoot the ball well i I truly believe that he turnovers maybe you know in the mid twos but outside of that like given last year it was 2.7 turnovers he had a 28% usage rate this year it was 2.4 turnovers with like a 23% usage rate like that that’s the other thing and you know you’re you’re getting more with like you’re also like you’re you’re getting better in certain areas while also eliminating other players weaknesses via this trade like we talk about Contavius Cwell Pope not really being able to create a ton and like I would say is probably 90 to 95% of the defender that Contavius Cowwell Pope is and the fact that he’s 6’5 and built like a like a brick house um I just I the only thing that you can convince me of is just the fact that it is a ton of money i’m not really concerned about the picks it is a ton of money this team gets incredibly expensive immediately um but for me that’s that’s kind of where the the the concerns stop with him the health yes um yeah when I was starting to look at those numbers I’m like h I don’t love that but then also how much of that is like the time in the last few years that like Jiren Jackson has missed time and you know John Morant has missed time and he’s been asked to be the number one guy and you know how taxing is that but the fact that we have a dude that is this capable who is you know going to be our third option maybe fourth option sometimes depending on you know if Jaylen’s got it going or or whatever is going on there and I do think offensively that Paulo and Fron are both better players than John Morant and Jiren Jackson Jr for sure yeah so this is an even better situation for Desmond Bane and he’s got a better defensive team around him as well there’s no reason we were talking about hey if you trade Contavius Cwell Pope it it’s probably going to come at the cost of like significant defense i still think that this team can be a top five defensive team in the league with Desmond Bane desmond Bane Josh Cohen talked about this in his video as well desmond Bane gave Paulo and Fron a little bit of trouble in their matchups this year this dude is a very capable defender yeah absolutely i’m I Yeah if anything I think again like I said given the scheme given the people that’ll be around him if anything I think his defense could be elevated you know statistically at least um him in the back court with Jaylen Suggs are you kidding me like it’s basically two free safeties back there is what it is like they’re just be flying all over the place it’s going to be great um you know you mentioned Jonathan this being this generation’s Rashard Lewis acquisition right and again I said it’s hard for my mind not to start to wander but it’s not just me it’s not just like my imagination because the odds changed this afternoon for your Orlando Magic fanduel sports book before the trade had the Orlando Magic’s champion or sorry NBA Finals odds not champion odds nba Finals odds at plus 3,700 right now they’re at plus600 your Orlando Magic are at plus,600 to make the NBA finals not in 2029 not in 28 not in 27 in 2026 12 months from now they are at plus,600 which puts them in I think like the top seven in the league which is crazy like Magic fans please hear me say this if you are excited about this it’s not just your homerisism it’s not just our bias while that does play into it some like these are unbiased outlets and entities that make money or lose money off of these types of things and they jumped our odds to be top seven in the league this is worth being excited over this is big time and the Orlando Magic are here to play i you can save this pod save this video you know clip this whatever you want to do i am going to guarantee that the Magic make a finals within the next three years love it i’m there year i mean Palo is going to be 23 years old fron is going to be 24 years old this coming season bane’s going to be 27 another year Paulo will be 24 fron will be 25 bane will be 28 year three Paulo 25 Fron’s 26 Bane 29 like this we’re starting to get into the window that we’ve been talking about and having to stay patient with and to be fair Fron’s step forward this year in my mind moved that timeline up you know at least a year or so getting to the level that he did the magic like let let’s just go like team by team here right like we we’ve seen the Cavs now 64 wins this year whatever collapse in the playoffs the Celtics what’s funny is those odds still have the Celtics with better odds ahead of the Magic i don’t understand that i really don’t understand that logic still have the Knicks ahead of us I guess i’m not convinced still have the Pacers ahead of us i get it they’re in the finals matchup for matchup the way that we match up against that Pacers team I’m not 100% convinced like I I do think the Magic have I don’t know like a a 25% chance 33% chance to come out of the East as soon as this coming year it’s crazy but it’s not it’s not it’s crazy to hear but it’s not crazy on paper like is it a long shot of course i I’m I don’t think either of us are sitting here picking the Magic to make the NBA Finals this year but talk to me in October let’s let’s see what the rest of the East does hey by the way the Orlando Magic kicked off the NBA offseason let’s just establish that too like hey we’re establishing dominance here like this this offseason starts when we say so no just kidding uh so that’s cool but let’s see what the rest of the teams do you know let’s see what the other teams do this summer lot of moving pieces a lot of moving parts but there’s a chance in October we’re sitting here feeling very good about our postseason chances you you made a guarantee that the Magic to make a finals in the next three years barring craziness unforeseen circumstances injuries or just an overall implosion that we just never saw coming my guarantee is this year I’m going to I’m going to eat my words my guarantee is that this season breaks the Magic’s first round curse the Magic going second round this year listen dude if that doesn’t happen we will have a lot of problems lot of problems but the Orlando will be absolutely doomsday barring anything crazy happens like if the Magic are healthy and don’t win a first round playoff series there’s a real problem yeah with this team now with this starting lineup Yeah it it just feels like it feel the Oh man like we we talked about just you know two weeks ago whatever it was with the the rebrand and everything you know this new look for this new era and how we’re going to make memories and this new look and all that kind of stuff it felt so distant and now here we are two weeks away and I’m like we’re making memories this year like it’s starting now and it sucks that it’s freaking June by the way the fact that we still have to wait four months to see this team play basketball but I’m just so fired up and um I don’t know how I’m going to sleep between now and October every night just going to be laying there wide awake picturing these guys picturing Desmond Bane in a white pinstriped Orlando Magic uniform and I don’t know it’s it’s great it’s I just still am kind of shook that this even happened all right really quick exercise if I tell you Anthony Black takes a reasonable step forward this year Tristan Dilva kind of cements himself as a legitimate rotational piece can average you know 10 points a game Jonathan Isaac returns back to 2023 2024 jonathan Isaac listen I tell you all of that the Magic are making the Eastern Conference Finals this year give me those three things and the Magic make the Eastern Conference Finals this year i’m almost there and relative health relative health of course I’m almost there i need better shooting from everyone not named Desmond Bane like the last year disastrous 30% from three has to be better from everybody else i know Desmond Bane let’s say Desmond Bane comes in and does Desmond Bane things that’s great it’s still not enough everyone else has to come up at least back to like the mean i’m not asking them to be crazy but like we talked about with Josh Cohen like like their record when they were just league average was like 20 and five 21 and five depending on who you ask we have to be league average shooting the basketball and then I’ll listen but yeah I mean the I think it could be a scenario gosh I can’t believe we’re having these conversations the Magic shoot the ball better this year well yeah I I’ll do that too i can’t believe we’re having these It feels so stupid to have these conversations in June but this is what this is all about if you would have told me yesterday that we were having conversations about guarantees of the finals in the Eastern Conference Finals it would have felt silly and the fact that like the Desmond Bane thing doesn’t totally feel real yet it does still feel silly but if I try to remove myself from that I I don’t think it’s silly right and my my thing is like I don’t know the Magic vastly improved their offense today without sacrificing their defense not sacrificing anything on paper basketball-wise like yeah first round picks but as far as the current construction of the roster the Magic sacrificed nothing and if anything it’s addition by subtraction which is pretty crazy to acquire a bas basically an all-star without giving up think about the the actual player assets that this team has we talked about Jaylen Suggs safe from the trade anthony Black safe from the trade trista which is a piece I think a lot of teams would like to have safe from the trade i don’t know it’s it’s um it’s really hard to believe it’s really really hard to believe but um but yeah the needle has been moved like the needle has been moved and we talked about expectations like we talked about them last year as oh this team’s got to be better and then injuries happen this year expectations it’s a totally different ballgame now right like this team is here to play and that means two things number one it’s exciting for us but number two it’s it’s go time right like this move has to work out the guys that are currently left on this roster and or whoever is going to be around by October they have to play up to these expectations the coaching staff has to be up to these expectations not just because of where the fans stand now not just because of whatever because now like we talked about at the top the Devos family is going to be paying for a very good basketball team and so from a business standpoint your bosses are like you said putting their money where their mouth is and that means the team has to step up am I worried about it not happening no i I believe like we said I think this team is going to be very good but if they’re not there’s going to be problems and so to me that’s very exciting but it also the stakes are higher they definitely are so this puts the Magic I believe as everything is now i believe it puts them into the second apron um I think there are some mechanisms that the Magic can decline some of the team options you know like Gary Harris which I think at this point is all but all but done cory Joseph most likely as well caleb Houston it’s it’s tough cuz it’s such a cheap deal but now we’re we’re literally talking like every dollar matters in terms of you know the apron and some of those um implications there but then Mo Vagner as well so to me that’s a big thing that’s in the air right like last year the Vagner Brothers documentary that came out and we got to see a couple years ago like Mo Vagner’s free agency playing out and him being frustrated just because he wanted to feel like he was valued somewhere signing a pretty good deal last off season I think it was like $11 million a year is he now a year later coming off of an ACL injury willing to you know have that option declined and then you know does he hit the open market see what he can get elsewhere would he be will like willing to resign here like this is if the Magic are looking for moves outside of like the vet veteran minimum contracts right like um you know if you’re I think I I don’t know if it’s the first or second apron but like you’re not able to use the mid-level exception so will the Magic try to open up a little bit of room to be able to use something like that and then maybe resign Mo on like a minimum or something like that i don’t know people have talked about like Nquille Alexander Walker or like we mentioned a guy like Taius Jones if those are you know targets that the Magic are going after are you getting either of those guys on a minimum i don’t really know are you going to need to use the full mid-level exception to sign either one of them i don’t know that as well the Magic H they still have a lot of decisions that need to be made and I do still think there’s you know a scoring gap that needs to be filled in that second unit 100% agreed um just really fast with the Mo Vagner thing like Mo Fron if you’re if you’re watching let’s just do this like Mo will decline the option sign you for a little bit less but look France he’s getting that that new payday this year fron why don’t you slide your brother like you know five six million to like balance it out that way you guys make Fronze make up the difference well I mean he’s making a lot of money starting this year so like slide it over there um and then that way you guys can still split you know the cost of housing and so Fron ends up you know it ends up working out for both guys no I’m just kidding um but yeah that’s that’s the other thing this team is not done like this is not the move this off season there are other moves to come i would be shocked if there was anything as significant as this but there have to be moves you know whether it’s just you know declining the team options like we mentioned of those handful of guys and finding other guys elsewhere or maybe there are other deals that could be done we mentioned the 25th overall pick lots of things still on the table but yeah undoubtedly this team is not done with the moves there are other things to be done other holes that you know things that this team needs to improve that I think the front office is going to uh going to pursue but hey you we always say you got to find your core the Magic have had their core you got to find you know the second and third guys on your team the Magic have gone beyond that we’ve got our third and fourth guys now the rest I’m not so worried about i believe this this runoff office can formulate the rest of it um but yeah it’s it’s again I see the vision i’m fired up and we talked about this really since the trade deadline as much criticism as we gave Jeff Welman in the front office for not making moves at that time we followed that up and said “Hey if they kind of make the right moves this off season yes they deserve criticism but they deserve praise.” And some people have made the argument that well they’re kind of only in this position because they gave Contabius Cowwell Pope that contract and that is true but then what you’re you’re not going to make a move like this to improve your team just because you signed a guy maybe to a not so great deal last year like I regardless I still think this is a a good move and and that they deserve credit for this and then to the point of Mo Vagner like if we’re talking about having to move Mo Vagner you know decline his club option and try to bring him back at a lower rate like if that’s going to upset him to the point that we end up losing him as well then what good is making a move like that for Nquille Alexander Walker or a Taius Jones if it comes down to it I’m just keeping Mo Vagner and I’ll be totally fine doing that and then maybe take like Goka Patad’s $ 8.3 million and and see if you can find a trade you know somewhere around the league for a guy that you know can come in and and give you some bench scoring because you know at this point you you are going to need that so overall I think this is a fantastic move i don’t think Magic fans are are silly to celebrate this and to be excited about it if you’re concerned about the picks I kind of get that but then just think like the guys who are going to be drafted in in 2029 are like 14 years old right now you know playing Fortnite until 2 a.m and Snapchatting you know the girl that they think they’re going to spend the rest of their lives with right now like I I I can sleep okay tonight especially because again we’re talking about you know let’s keep these four picks in the hopes that maybe we could draft one of these guys that could be as good as Desmond Bane right or hey let’s trade them and guarantee that we’re going to have a guy that good for the next four years and let me just add if this deal does what it’s supposed to those picks are going to be trash the only way those picks are good is if this trade this trade bombs which would be bad right and then then we’re just totally screwed if if Desmond Bane doesn’t work out then the picks are bad or the picks are good and then everything’s But again this front office they’re they’re pushing their chips in in the in the hopes of being a an elite basketball team and so if those things happen which right now I have no reason to believe they won’t then those picks are going to be not good like sure they have value but they have value of a 25 26 27 28 29 30 overall pick to me yeah right there with you super stoked about this Kev now I think it’s a good time to probably bring in and get some Memphis Grizzlies perspective on this trade was it an overpay in their eyes do they see it as fair value um and also just kind of get some information on Desmond Bane and and kind of see where the Grizzlies are going because a lot of people around the league after this mover are they blowing it up are they not what are what are they doing there so let’s go ahead and get to our conversation with Daniel Greer all right Magic fans we are now joined by a very special guest straight from Memphis uh Daniel Greer who hosts the Grizz 901 live postgame show after Memphis Grizzlies games uh I think you all can deduce why we have him here on the show this evening we’re recording this late night on Father’s Day so appreciate you taking the time Daniel how are you very uneventful day right yeah very quiet day on Father’s Day i um weirdly enough all right short story my wife huge Desmond Bane fan as in what many of Orlando Magic wives or ladies will be a fan very soon but I rolled over to her because we were watching some some stupid show this today and I said “I have really bad news sat down.” She’s like “Shut up.” I’m like “No but for real for real.” And uh I had to break the news to her that Desa Bane is no longer a part of the Memphis Grizzlies and she was very upset actually sent out information through text to her friends that wasn’t aware just yet so uh she was upset oh that’s tough i think before we get into like the the Desmond Bane stuff and obviously there’s a lot to talk about with that i got to ask you about something behind you okay like we’ve had a lot of guests from other that cover other teams you might be the first that we’ve had that has Orlando Magic stuff behind you what’s What’s going on behind I assume it’s Penny and the Memphis Connection right yeah no doubt so so I have two pictures just like uh Penny as you can see right here uh I have what I call the two pillars of Memphis basketball it is Zack Randolph he’s in a Grizzlies you can’t see him he’s outside of the frame but on the other side is Penny Hardway Mr king Cotton himself he’s born and bred here from Memphis he’s probably in my opinion one of the best players to ever have the uh the term what if because realistically Penny was that dude and and I think you know all Orlando Magic fans could understand that but Penny and Shaq I grew up on that i loved that the Grizzlies eventually came along and I had to kind of just kind of make sure I was a fan of that but in all honesty like Penny is my dude but also Shaq i love I even love the mascot stuff himself like I I love everything to do with Yeah I love everything to do with Orlando Magic they’re my number two fan uh or team outside of the Grizzlies always you’re winning over some Magic fans right now especially and some of our younger fans you know they hear us talk about Penny but when a guy makes all NBA in his second season like that just doesn’t really happen you know in today’s NBA so Penny absolutely was that dude um but Daniel if you could just kind of I guess give us a little bit of your perspective on this trade what it you know kind of means for both teams i know there’s a lot of questions of what direction are are the Grizzlies you know going down and how much do you think that this move elevates the Magic going forward yeah so this this trade it came out of I wouldn’t say nowhere because we we saw this happening as Grizzlies fans that they they have the core three we don’t want to call them a big three because realistically it’s hard to have three that are just really truly a big three of a team uh but you have to say that it was a little weird like it wasn’t clicking like it was in the past there was something missing uh it’s almost like on a car you know really you have a missing cylinder it just wasn’t clicking like it should have been i love Desmond Bane like truly one of the best players to come out of the Grizzlies organization and I will talk to him as a human first and and I don’t want to kind of just go away from your question because I do appreciate it but let’s talk about Desmond Bane as a true human the dude is a genuine good guy and that’s really where I kind of always make sure on any show that I ever do I always try to celebrate the good guys desmond Bane is a good dude happy Father’s Day to him he got he got sent out to a well I want to say a better place he get a prettier place for sure down in Orlando with with the the beautiful beaches for sure but in all honesty like his his new his son he’s now I guess going to be three years old very soon armani like everybody is going to love the human side of Desmond Bane the basketball player is going to be even better like the dude is just a dog on the court and uh when you look at this trade you you kind of have to look at both sides and and I initially saw it and as I was telling my wife about it I thought it’s a win-win for both teams you’re you’re overpaying and you just have to take that as a Orlando Magic fan is we are overpaying but that’s sometimes that’s that’s the best for business right you have to overpay to get what you want but on the Grizzly side you get a lot of assets in the long term the Grizzlies win short term honestly the Orlando Magic win and that’s kind of how I looked at it but Desmond Bane is a perfect and beautiful fit for this Orlando Magic team yeah and uh you mentioned overpaying i think most Magic fans totally agree not just because oh the the Grizzlies have something we want but the entire NBA knows that the Orlando Magic were the worst shooting team in the league last year and so what did the Magic need they need shooting if they want to acquire shooting they’re going to have to overpay it makes sense you mentioned I kind of want to go a little bit deeper into this mentioned that it it was a surprise but not a a a full surprise like you you felt like there was going to be some kind of shift it sounds like some kind of shift this off seasonason right did you think it was going to be Desmond Bane though and certainly did you expect it 10 days before the draft how was the timing and then even just the Desmond Bane move itself yeah so before the draft I honestly I didn’t I didn’t know when I would expect it but I if any of the big or the core three to be moved I thought it would be Desmond Bane just because his salary is a little up there for a third best player on a team realistically i know we’re in the new NBA where you’re going to see his contract just be it’d be a normal contract for you know one of the core three pieces of your team uh but I I did think that it would be Desmond Bane just because of the new of the the style of the new coach Tumas Iselo who is coming in to take over he wants a more free flowing offense and it wants to be ran through John Morant in the end of the day John Morant is that dude who is going to be uh the engine of the Grizzlies and without him I don’t care if you have three Desmond Baines you’re still not going to be better than John Morant and that’s no shot to Desmond Bane it’s just that’s just how the the team is made and so because of that I I I think that there had to be some kind of movement because in all honesty it has nothing to do with Desmond Bane John Mor or Jiren Jackson Jr it has to do with Zack Kimman he’s dropped the ball and I am I’m more excited for Orlando and their fans because I wanted us to do what Orlando’s GM is doing right now is saying “Hey we have guys that are on you know younger you know younger guys that are on smaller contracts we have a chance to strike while the iron’s hot and this is the time to go for it we’re going all in in a guy that we have a chance to go all in for in Desmond Bane and honestly the Grizzlies never did that they kept playing with their food in a sense and they kept trying to go younger and they went younger and they went younger and all it was accidentally went younger is what Zack Kle and the GM kept saying but I I think that Orlando is doing the right thing they’re going for it when they have the young core and honestly they’re all under contract for the next four or five years so why not just kind of go for it with these with these core guys now in in your opinion is for the Grizzlies is this a move that you you know they’re kind of retooling adding KCP who you know maybe had a down year but they’re hoping can bounce back shooting wise maybe Cole Anthony can give you all a little bit off the bench while you’re adding future assets or is this like perhaps the first step in and you know may maybe like a bigger kind of rebuilding move like what’s your opinion on that yes so I think this is the first step like you were saying Jonathan is I think in all honesty I don’t know if y’all saw the Instagram and I who knows if it’s real anymore with AI these days but um Devin Booker supposedly put a grizzly bear or a bear on Instagram and then deleted it earlier today and so I don’t know if that is real and if it’s not real you know I I’ll wear the pie on my face for sure but I think that this is a first move in multi moves i think they need somebody better than KCP but I think that KCP can relate uh can replace a little bit of what you lose in Desmond Bane especially with a new offense that Iselo is bringing in but honestly like you have to think that Cole Anthony is not on this team they have Scotty Pippen Jr who is a good backup as a point guard you have John Morant you can’t base the fact of you have three point guards that can’t happen not in this NBA i I I think that they’re going to make some other moves i think they could use the the contract of um I wouldn’t say with a team option of Cole Anthony I think that’s a good contract to come off of if you’re going to make some moves i don’t know if it’s enough for Devin Booker in my opinion because in my in all honesty why wouldn’t Phoenix want that right phoenix would want Desmond Bane instead of KCP or honestly just John Kchar nobody nobody wants those pieces they would rather have Desmond Bates i don’t see why that would happen but weirdly enough I think that they’re going to make some kind of moves i want to kind of pick your brain a little bit more about Desmond Bane the player for Magic fans who may not be familiar especially Western Conference team we only see it twice a year and especially this past year did not go well for the Orlando Magic in those two games uh but let’s talk about Desmond Bane you say you love him as a person obviously but as an NBA player as a basketball player what are some of the things that we can really expect from Desmond Bane and especially fitting in with guys like Paulo and Fron that we have oh man the the the fit is just seamless and I don’t want to I don’t want to overstate that too much but you’re talking about a guy that is really good off of a two dribble drive and and and the reason I say two dribbles is because if you look at um Jaylen Brown who was two years ago everybody was making fun he doesn’t have a left hand okay well then he became an NBA champion right and now this next season you’re talking about him being the only guy their best player they have in Boston well let’s look at Desmond Bane he’s right on that same part and do you not think that a guy who honestly grew up Indiana went to TCU wasn’t even wanted at TCU but I do have a story about that uh at some point throughout this uh but at some point Jamie Dixon gave him a chance brought him into TCU and now kind of keeps developing himself wasn’t a good dribbler when he was dribbling the ball when his first rookie season it sounded like he was like beating that thing through the hardwood because he was just he wasn’t a he wasn’t consistent dribbler he kind of developed that where he could do a dribble drive and that’s why I say a good off of the you know if you want to do a dribble handoff get him a two dribbles to the front of the rim that’s what De Des Desmond Bane excels at as well as if you want to get him you know off of a screen and get him a a little release out into the uh to some space and get a catch and shoot three-pointer that’s his best thing he’s good at so there’s there’s a couple things that if you put him in the right environment the Grizzlies did not last year they try to make him a backup ball handler which is the dumbest thing you could possibly do with your best shooter i think he’s going to be put in a better environment especially Paliban Cara who weirdly enough I am a Duke Blue Devils fan uh I have never repped the University of Memphis even though I do love Penny i will make them my second best team there as long as he’s a coach but I I love Duke and I love Paulo and what he can do he can he can be the guy who if you throw the ball into him whether out on space in the post Paulo is that dude you create space with Desmond Bane whether it’s the catch and shoot or it’s the two dribble drive I think Desmond Bane will be somebody that the the the Orlando Magic fans truly fall in love with because he will go hard whether it’s the first quarter first possession or the last possession you’re going to get everything you want out of him i I we’ve talked about this uh but I think the way that the playoffs have gone in the Eastern Conference this year like contending for a title kind of means something a little bit differently than it did maybe a month ago right with the collapse that we saw from the Cavs and the injury to Jason Tatum and what the Celtics might be going into next season and now Indiana and the run that they’ve made magic fans we’re kind of licking our chops a little bit looking at this Eastern Conference next year like hey why can’t we be Indiana next year just want to get your opinion on that like do you see this move you know adding Desmond Bane to Palo Bank Carol Franb Jaylen Suggs and you know maybe some other moves that haven’t been made yet would you be surprised if the Magic find themselves making a Indiana like run in the next year or two all right so I’m going to throw this back on you real quick and I’m going to put you on the hot spot since you asked the question Jonathan why not all right uh Boston right now going into next year do you think that Orlando as currently constructed we’ll say is better than Boston next year i I don’t know that I’ll say better but I give us a a much better chance in a playoff series than I did last year bro they’re so much better so much better okay well you said it i didn’t I didn’t want to sit here and celebrate you’re having a rough day i’m not trying to gloat but yes adding Desmond Bane I I do feel that without Jason Tatum we are better than the Celtics all right uh even the Indiana Pacers who are tied 2-2 going to go up against OKC do you think that they would compete in a sevengame series if not be better than Indiana Pacers right now yes cuz I really like the way that we match up with Indiana we own them yeah go down the entire list you You have Cleveland like anybody you go down that list I promise you Orlando without Desmond Bane truly matched up when healthy against these teams with Desmond Bane they outmatch if not they are neck andneck it’s all depending on it all depends on health and that’s truly what you all have to depend on as a as a team that wants to compete for titles but with Desmond Bane you do have a shooter that’s going to space you out and that’s that’s really what you want france Vagner is your X factor he’s going to do a little bit of everything and that’s kind of what you want but Palo Benero is your 1A he’s always going to be your 1A if you’re not building around Apollo then you’re just stupid and I don’t think that that franchise is stupid right and so you have those three add in sucks add in Wendell Carter if he doesn’t get moved if you don’t come off of him and you want to you know throw in other guys that you use as a big no matter what direction you go Orlando is a top three team in the East i don’t care if Jason Tatum’s healthy i would still put Orlando Magic up there every year just because let’s say okay let’s just say that Orlando doesn’t click and doesn’t feel perfect and it just something doesn’t do well this year guess what they’re still under contract next year and then guess what the year after that this isn’t a a move for this next season this isn’t a KD move and I want people to understand take a step back kd is great he’s amazing but you have a very short window with with what you did with with the Magic you now have a window that’s going to be open for three if not four maybe five years that really you can feel good about and compete and if you don’t win a championship that that is what it is but being able to compete and be in the conversation is really what you want because it always gives you a chance and uh I heard one at one show one time you just need it just a little bit of chance so you tell me there’s a chance that’s right Kevin i like this guy i was about to say we should we should have more opposing you know guys that hype up our team more this is great this is awesome let’s Doesn’t always go that way no it doesn’t yeah it doesn’t let’s uh let’s We’ve heard all the good is there anything bad like anything that Magic fans keep an eye on that no player’s perfect what types of things could maybe frustrate Magic fans if anything from Desmond Bane any kind of negative points things that we could poke holes in when it comes to his game yeah so no no no negative to a sense uh he’s a basketball player he’s going to have his ups and downs his bad games his good games i will say that he has had back injuries over the years and that’s kept him out of it but I promise you if he can play if he can walk you’re going to he’s going to be on the court and I and I I hate saying that because sometimes you’re like “Oh well an injury could take him out well he didn’t he wasn’t able to bounce back like he used to.” Because you know we’re all aging right we’re all getting older and sometimes our our bodies just fail us and that’s just the truth he has had some very simple toe injuries back injuries outside of injuries that can pop up you’re literally talking about turnovers that’s the only thing and honestly that came to happen the last two years guess who hasn’t played for the Grizzlies the last two seasons that is John Morant he is your number one player he’s your best player if you don’t have John Morant you should suck anyway right that’s just the truth i I think some Grizzlies fans and I apologize in advance for what I’m about to say they’re just stupid and honestly they just forget that realistically you need your best players to be good and you if you don’t have your best players you’re not going to have a good product on the court there’s a lot of new Grizzlies fans that’s come over and that’s really who I’m talking about a lot of them are John fans which is fine we embrace we embrace everybody but Desmond Bane is a guy who truly will give you every ounce of sweat you know blood you know his tears everything he’s got and that’s what you’re going to get you’re going to have some stupid turnovers that you’ll get frustrated by you’ll have some uh just just bad shooting nights where he’ll go 0 for8 but that’s going to happen in a in a 62 82 game year with depending on you know whatever he’s playing like that’s what you’re going to get out of Desmond Bane but realistically there’s no negative in a sense of the guy and what he’s going to be off the court or on the court you’re going to be happy truly with what he brings to you you got my interest when we talked about TCU you said you had a story about how it sounded like you said he wasn’t wanted at TCU or something like that let’s let’s hear what you got at that yes so he wasn’t recruited very highly out of Indiana and he was a small uh little prep school and he was the dude he was the big fish small pond which is fine um I was that as well in my in my days but he went to a he was being recruited and the new assistant that was under Jamie Dix Jamie Dixon took over at TCU that first year and the assistant sold and was like “Hey we got to bring this guy in this guy we need to offer something to him to get him on the on the court here at TCU.” Finally they talked him into it you know Jamie Dixon brought him in well the funny story about all of this is Jamie Dixon did not recruit him so we didn’t know really who who really who Desmond Bane was and they developed a relationship because they kept seeing each other and guess what desmond Bane there’s a little pastry if you had to guess uh Kevin I’ll let you go first if there’s a pastry Desmond Bane walks into practice every day eating what kind of pastry do you think this would be like a fancy pastry or like a Pop-Tart not a Pop-Tart but a fancy pastry uh I don’t know a croissant i don’t know no but it was weirdly enough it was a honey bun and guess what desmond Bane ate three to four or so honey buns every single day and I swear Jamie Dixon and I have it recorded and I’ll put I’ll put it out uh since Desmond Bane’s uh info in the story is going to be pretty fresh but he eventually became to have the name Honey Bun and that’s literally what Jamie Dixon called him every single time is it it just became the name of Honey Bun which was pretty funny the fact that like he got it just from eating honey buns but now Mr swole guy himself Mr fit Guy himself Desmond Bane his nickname of Honey Bun so if you ever get him in a chance to ask him uh maybe what his nickname from TCU is ask him what it is he’ll tell you it’s Honey Bun is he Is he still a fan of the Honey Buns or has he kind of sworn that off i don’t know that i would I would assume judging by his guns his muscles I don’t think he’s uh eating the honey buns anymore well Daniel we appreciate you taking the time here before we let you go is there anything that you know maybe they do hang on to KCP in Cole Anthony any anything that you’d like to know from our end yeah so like in your opinion Jonathan like do you think that this move makes Memphis better whether it’s in the short term and the long term because realistically you’re talking about you know you do have the player option uh in KCP and you have the team option in Cole Anthony do you think this move helps or hurts the Grizzlies long term long term I I think it helps when you look at the the draft capital that they have i think in the short term like the big questions are just whether or not KCP can bounce back offensively and get closer to you know like the 39 40% that he was you know in some of the Denver and LA years um with Cole the whole thing with him is just going to be whether or not he’s able to be consistent we’ve never questioned his motor or you know his work or anything like that but I do think there’s the opportunity for this to light a little bit more of a fire underneath Cole and if like the best version of Cole can be realized um heck of a basketball player you know we would have 25 to 30 to 40 game stretches where you know maybe he wasn’t so great the first half of the season but would really come on the last 40 games of the year or would start redot the first 25 games of the year and then kind of cool off as the rest of the season went on so um if those guys aren’t able to bounce back I think it hurts you immediately but you know again with with the draft capital we are hoping that those draft picks are not that good uh because if they are that good it means that this trade went terribly for us um but you know those are still picks that they’re going to be first round picks they are going to be valuable moving forward um I think you do have the potential to you know if this works out you know salary capwise and everything like that for the Grizzlies to maybe be a good move long term um short term I think it’s a coin flip can I just add really fast on a couple of things the thing with Cole like Jonathan said consistency is is a big thing i’ll tell you this this was Cole’s worst season of his career which you know all of it was in has been in Orlando his worst season and yet he single-handedly won two or three games for the Magic this year so like there there are nights I the most Magic fans their favorite game from this season was one of the worst and best Magic games ever it was right around Christmas time it was the game Mo Vagner tore his ACL so he tears his ACL in the first half it the the energy of the building drops it was at home it was it was awful it was so heart-wrenching because you just knew you knew Mo was gone for the season right it was against the Miami Heat and at the time we were also without Paulo and Fron so at this point Mo goes down best bench scorer we’re just screwed cole Anthony just took over the game like the Magic came back from down 19 I think it was something crazy like that in the fourth yeah yeah at the Yeah at the start of the fourth like held the Miami Heat to eight points in the fourth quarter and Cole Anthony won the game by himself without all those guys like that’s the thing cole is capable of going on these heaters and it’s not just from deep like he’ll get to the rim he’ll do all these things but the problem is it it just was super inconsistent especially this season and so all the thing the thing like Jonathan said like you’re never going to question his motor his engine a great guy great locker room guy high energy and all all I was about to say all Magic fans are going to be rooting for him like we Magic fans are going to have an eye on Memphis rooting for him hope he has nothing but success whether it’s Memphis or elsewhere um and so yeah you’re getting a great guy with KCP it’s just bounce it’s about bouncing back cuz defensively still great yeah um especially him and Jaylen Suggs in the back court together although they didn’t get to play very much together because of Jayen Suggs injuries he’s he’s still great you know older but wiser um and so you know smart on the defensive end it’s just the shooting was it was just abysmal and in the last 30 games or so of the season helped bring it up a little bit he did get better but the first 50 were really really bad and then the playoffs was even worse and so hopefully you know maybe Jo gets a lot of attention he can kick out the KCP and those kinds of things but yeah those are some of my thoughts on those two guys and and Magic hands will be rooting for them both i think well I think if you look at this trade like I think both fan bases honestly you know from my opinion because I follow both both fan bases I wouldn’t say closely on the Orlando side but close enough more than others i I think that everybody truly wants the other players to go off and be good like you will never and rarely will you have anybody talk bad about a Grizzlies fan a Grizzly player that has been here and done well like as long as they’ve been here for more than you know a year or two then you’ll have Grizzlies fans that truly want to see them succeed but but Desmond Bane is a is a different guy and and Orlando Magic fans are going to see that that he is a different guy you’re going to want to cheer for him but I I don’t know enough about KCP and honestly Cole Anthony i I I know Cole Anthony as I as I told you earlier I’m a Duke fan i know where he came from i know his dad and I know that he was a UNCC guy but I and I’ve been you know crushed by Cole Anthony many of times i’m just curious what dominoes continue to fall i love Cole Anthony just truly as a gritty player as a backup that can do a little bit more but I’m curious more on the defensive side of KCP if he can kind of mesh um in your opinion Kevin like do you see that KCP is a guy that can play alongside Jaw do you think that they could be good you know a good mesh good ancillary pieces for Jaw i I definitely think so again it depends on what version of KCP but offensively where he’s going to be very much more different than Desmond Bane he’s much more one-sided offensively than Desmond Bane you know in the years that I’ve you know watched him from afar he has he has much more well-rounded game obviously he’s known for his blowbyss you know let’s gets guys in the air and and drives to the rim or you know whatever kcp there’s not a whole lot of that right much more one-sided offensively but he he’s still obviously going to be able to space the floor for Jaw who gets so much attention and and I know tries to get to the rim quite frequently so I can I don’t see any issues offensively it’ll just be different um and then defensively I don’t have any worries about KCP fitting in defensively um anywhere any scheme you know he’s he’s got what it takes and that’s the one thing I think that kept a lot of Magic fans afloat with KCP this year because the shooting was so abysmal we could at least look on defense and say he’s still a good defender that’s the reason he’s out there because we know you know shooting wise it was just really bad for him last year and so I’m not worried about the defense and the fit there but offensively it’ll just be different than Desmond Bane yeah and Desane is not a bad defender at all i just think that he he struggled because J is a I guess a minus defender in a sense but realistically Desmond Bane he’s going to give you everything very much as you talked about Jonathan about talking about Cole Anthony like you’re going to get everything out of you know Desmond Bane to the point of he’s going to do whatever he can on the defensive end he’s never going to be a a stalwart on you know defensive end as a one-on-one guy but he will be a great team defender and that’s really all you could ask for yeah well we’re looking forward to to finding out for sure um this is you know kind of tough because I know you guys are losing a guy that you really love and it was a a core piece of what you all were doing there in Memphis and we are going to miss Cole you know we we’ll miss KCP as well but Cole in the five years you know that that he um spent here it’s a little bit of a bittersweet day you know kind of moving on for Cole but man are we as excited as anything to bring Desmond Bane into the fold here and and see what uh these guys are going to be able to do but Daniel really appreciate you taking the time here on on Father’s Day uh before we let you go can you just let our listeners and viewers know where they can find your Grizzlies coverage yeah you can find us over at Grizz 901 you we’re we’re mainly I guess streamed out through uh Bluff City Media and so that’s kind of where we are we do all the postgame shows for Bluff City Media for the Grizzlies content and so it’s a good time and I know you all know exactly after a game that the the tension is high or or maybe sometimes after a win everybody’s chill having a good time so you kind of have to play on some feelings there but uh we do the postgame show and we love every minute of it uh just kind of being there with the fans and just kind of bringing their voices to life a little bit uh and letting them be a part of what the fansship is like honestly within the Grizzlies Nation and so uh excited to kind of check in with you all now throughout the year as we get to uh kind of follow along with Desmond Bane for sure looking forward to that and be sure to go follow you know Daniel on Twitter um I had your Twitter here Daniel Greer and then you can find all the the Grizz 901 coverage there as well and once again Dan appreciate you taking the time thank you man once again a big shout out to Daniel Greer joining the show here on Father’s Day really really nice guy great at what he does gave us a lot of insight on Desmond Bane asked us some good questions about Cole Anthony and Contavius Cowwell Pope as well kev like you and I talked earlier and we’re trying to like keep the expectations keep the excitement down i’m kind of even more excited now after talking with Daniel about Desmond Bane it was kind It felt weird you didn’t want to like be like “Yeah we got this guy he’s so good thanks for trading him to us.” All that kind of stuff like when you’re talking to you know especially you know his his wife heartbroken that they traded away Mr buff arms Desmond Bane but man am I freaking fired up to have this guy on our team i was going to say like that didn’t help with my expectations like hearing hearing a you know guy who by the way shout out for liking the magic that’s great love that he likes the Magic but for a guy that isn’t you know Magic first for him to come out and say all these things about I mean he did what we did earlier in the show where he went line by line through the Eastern Conference that does not help my expectations at all cuz right now I’m trying to bring them down but right now they’re they’re way too high for my comfort and it’s whenever we talk whenever we talk to other you know people from other teams and we ask well what’s your perspective of the magic right and we start talking about some of the upper echelon teams are always like “Well you guys aren’t quite as good as this team i don’t think you’re as good as this team.” So when he asked me the Boston thing I I was like I don’t I I kind of feel like he’s going to be like “Well you’re not nearly as good as Boston even without Jaylen or without Jason Tatum.” And then he flipped it the other way he’s like “Even with Jason Tatum I think you guys you know might be able to beat them.” So you both are a little further than me by the way cuz even without Jason Tatum as currently constructed I’m I’m still not there but the thing is they’re not going to be as currently constructed that’s the thing like they got to make some moves and when those moves inevit inevitably happen I do think the Magic can be better but yeah that my expectations they’re even Tatum the Celtics really didn’t look that great so yeah I don’t know but I I Jonathan think it would be uh it’d be it’d be criminal for us to finish this episode without turning our attention to the two guys that are on their way out um I think first maybe we start with KCP just cuz he was only here for a year um by all accounts great guy great guy for the locker room all the players love him um and so got to give him credit for that you know a guy could have very easily walted in here after a big payday and just you know huffed and puffed and you know gone to work and went home and but it didn’t sound like that it sound like he was a good leader and a guy that you know some of the younger guys really trusted and counted on and um yeah obviously on the court didn’t get what we hoped or expected um but at least got to give him credit for being a great professional off the court and being a good good leader you know for these guys any thoughts on the departure the final words from KCP yeah I mean a guy who left a situation that he was pretty comfortable in you know in Denver and you can talk about the contract negotiations and whether or not they went the way that he wanted there was probably coming to Orlando because he was getting a you know a bigger role probably and obviously the the increase in pay um but a guy that like gave the Magic another level of credibility that they really had not had in the last few years by adding you know a guy you know coming off of a of a title um so yeah pretty big signing for the Magic but like you mentioned it didn’t really go the way that we all had it anticipated here um can I just really fast we got some Magic news while you’ve been recording bane’s going to wear number three number three yeah you saw that okay yeah sorry KCP yeah high by KCP desmond Bane has now selected number three that is interesting um I would interested to hear his like reasoning behind that number yeah we can ask him um I I feel like now we got to turn our attention to Cole we have to talk about Cole and got to talk about Cole so I started the pod in the 1819 season right right and then we have the 1920 season that was shortened by co just a very very weird time um and then you know Cole’s rookie season like I think it was pretty early in early in that year had the gamewinner you know against Minnesota and with all the injuries that year to like Evan Fornier and and Aaron Gordon that was a and the you know the ACL tear earlier in that year by Markeel Folultz and you know Jonathan Isaac coming off the ACL like that was by all means like for those of you that listen to the pod back then like that was a miserable time to be covering this team and to be watching this team and to be like living and dying with this team cole Anthony was like essentially the lone bright spot in that season right and then there’s you know you get to the trade deadline and moves start to happen and now it’s like this whole new kind of era new wave of of players on this team like when we think of the Chuma OKK’s and you know the the RJ Hamptons and all that kind of stuff like that real era like Cole Anthony was like the the shining light during that team before we knew what France Vagner was going to be and before we you know had Jaylen Suggs and Po like Cole Anthony was the hope of the franchise during that time and brought us some very exciting moments on the floor obviously you know the the Miami game you know last year um and and other games you know the game winner that he had against the Memphis Grizzlies um and and just like a lot of moments on and off the court a lot of viral you know halftime and postgame interviews and just all the work that he did in the community you know helping the the youth and um you know giving his time and giving his money and and resources and things like that to the city and just you know like being the heart and soul of this franchise you know for a few years where this team was struggling to really establish an identity and for a lot of younger Magic fans people that are rooting for the team now like Cole Anthony was like the first player that really got them excited for the Magic so um although I do understand this from like a business perspective and like the basketball move like personally it it still sucks and I I feel for Cole Anthony and um we thank him for everything that he did in in a Magic uniform and and really wish him well going forward yeah and that’s that’s the thing you know with Cole obviously I don’t want to say his career like was on a downward trajectory but in in some ways it was you know had had a lot of great moments early and had some some moments in years two and year three and um year four I guess too year the beginning of year four was really good and then this past season happened you know obviously very difficult year for him um he’s mentioned before some things off the court and we don’t know what those are and may never know and we don’t need to know um but but it’s clear you know he’s just not quite the same as he once was but all of that aside like Magic fans love Cole Anthony they love the energy of Cole Anthony they love the person of Cole Anthony and I think mo like 99% of Magic fans are going to be rooting hard for Cole Anthony like it would be great whether it’s Memphis or maybe he ends up somewhere else this summer it would be awesome to see Cole flourish again because when Cole’s playing well it’s really fun like when Cole is playing well it’s a fun thing to watch and Magic fans are going to be rooting for him I think now till the end of his career and so yeah I’m with you wish him absolutely nothing but the best i hope he’s able to to bounce back and have a great rest of his career and yeah I’m grateful for the the times in Orlando and the Magic tweeted it like he was part of the culture shift right you know not solely responsible but anytime there’s kind of a changing of the guard like you said with those trades in 21 and what’s left are the young guys and Cole was one of the guys that was left and um was kind of trial by fire like you said in his rookie year like really had to be put through his paces because of things that were out of his control and uh but ultimately had a great attitude about it and super high energy and yeah wish him absolutely nothing but the best and we’ll be rooting for him uh for sure yep very uh it’s it’s a bittersweet day um you know we we had figured that there was a reasonable chance that Cole Anthony would be moved this summer but uh definitely a bittersweet day but yeah again thank you to KCP um but a massive and and heartfelt thank you to Cole for the last 5 years and you know gave everything to this franchise while he was here and deserves to be thanked and remembered and and celebrated for that so um goodbye Cole Anthony but welcome to Orlando Desmond Bane heck yeah let’s go i think that’s going to do it for this one again a big thank you to Daniel Greer for joining the show it was a lot of fun to talk to him and just looking forward to see Bane in that number three this coming season this has been the Sixman Show for Kevin Tucker this has been Jonathan Osborne again you all have been listening to the Sixman Show and we will catch you guys next time see you thanks for listening to The Sixth Man Show be sure to subscribe on iTunes and Spotify to get new episodes downloaded directly to your phone if you enjoy the show please take a minute to give us a five-star rating and a review it helps out the show a lot follow us on Twitter Instagram and Facebookman Show we’ll catch you guys next time go Magic let’s go Magic let’s go back let’s go back
Cannot believe I’m typing this but the Magic have traded for Desmond freaking Bane. We break down the deal, the new ceiling for the Magic, Daniel Greer from Grizz901Live joins the show to give some Grizzlies perspective, and we say goodbye to KCP & Cole Anthony.
Find Daniel Greer’s Grizzlies content at@bluffcitymedia
Check out Derek Parker’s draft coverage over at @derek-parker
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0:00 – Our Reactions To The Desmond Bane Trade
53:24 – Daniel Greer Gives Grizzlies Perspective
1:22:43 – We Say Goodbye to Cole Anthony & KCP
#OrlandoMagic #OrlandoMagicPodcast #PaoloBanchero #BlueWireVideo #FranzWagner
23 Comments
C'mon, do you believe that anybody outside of Indiana believed the Pacers would have a chance at winning a championship at the beginning of the season? I don't think so. The Magic can certainly make the finals if no one gets injured. 🏆 Go Magic.!
Very good insight from a Memphis fan’s POV. Bro was very knowledgeable too 🔥
Wonderful!!
So fucking happy, couldn't imagine Caldwell Pope and Cole Anthony playing for the magic anymore. Great great move. Desmond Bane is a good good player. Now bring back Markelle Fultz and we will win a chip.
This is a great move imo! We get a high volume shooter as well as a 3 lvl scorer who plays really good defense and on top of that we got rid of KCP! Good job FO now we just need to get rid of GH and maybe WCJ(I’ll give Wendell 1 more yr) and I think we are good to go
Im so excited bout this trade LETS GOOOOOO 🏀💫
I'm so pumped
I think this was the best show of the year at the least!💯🤙🤙
I love you guys! Let's go!
Watched a german podcast with Moe last week. He said he is not worried about the option because he now knows his role and value in the league. The podcaster then asked but what If teams dont offer your value as you are coming back from an ACL and kind of answered he would sign a one year deal then to proof them wrong.
If anything we should have an improved defense as Coles minutes will likely be replaced by a better defender. Go Magic!!
Great point by Daniel at the start, I have a feeling the mrs will be watching a few more games this season. Got to tune in to the gun show 😂
All the best Cole. Go ball out!
What great fathers day gift.. 🥹
If you watch the NBA finals, I think the best lineup, the closing lineup for the Orlando Magic is going to be Black, Suggs, Bane, Franz, Paolo =Championship 🏆
We paid a high price, sure. But Weltman and Parker identified their guy. They went out and struck first in the trade market. We wanted roster moves and they delivered a huge one that fits many needs on this team. Go Magic
In 1995 we went 57-25 to make the NBA finals! This team could go 60-22 and also make the NBA finals! I was there and saw it live at the O- Arena. The other record l want my fellow Magic fans to see is the consecutive home games win of 40 games be broken. We could go 41-0 at home this season. It’s time to get ready for the Magic’s 3rd legitimate run to the NBA finals. Fan 4 Life!!
I rolled when I seen the bane mask, happy Father’s Day guys.
I’m currently holding Weltmans beer make those moves!!
The more I’ve thought about this move I really like it specifically Banes fit on this team. He’s a solid secondary playmaker and a top 10 3 point shooter with volume. Especially in catch and shoot and transition. But with Paolo super max hitting the books in the next couple years it’s going to more than likely put the Magic way over the second apron. I think that leads to more trades Isaac? Wendell? Opt out of Moe and/or Garys contract? Money will need to be moved. I also wonder his fit with Suggs with neither being a high end ball handler/distributor
Why did the guy on the left keep interrupting the guy on the right proclaiming some random guarantee every time the guy on the right was trying to make a point. I reckon it happened five times at least
Was not expecting this move at all. Still shocked, but I am starting to really like this trade.
Bane is exactly the player I wanted, but never thought Memphis would let him go. Great work Weltman. Cole will be SORELY missed, but if he was going to get traded at least it was for the PERFECT fit for us
This Magic team or the 2009 team are the best Magic team of all time? Were you guy born yet when Shaq, Penny, Grant, Scott and Anderson play?