What The Desmond Bane Trade Means for Coby White’s Trade Value

What The Desmond Bane Trade Means for Coby White’s Trade Value

so we got our first major blockbuster trade of the offseason even though the offseason technically hasn’t started yet with the NBA finals still ongoing but despite most of the trade chatter surrounding Kevin Durant over the past couple of weeks and everyone expecting that to be the first domino and what was expected to be a plethora of trades and movement this summer a lot of us were surprised to learn that the first major transaction of the offseason was actually seeing the Orlando Magic making an all-in level move by trading four firstround picks for the Memphis Grizzlies Desmond Bane four unprotected first round picks for Bane and while I won’t go into all my thoughts on this trade specifically as I already did a video breaking that down on my NBA channel i’ll leave a link to it in the description in case you’re interested but in this video I wanted to break down what this trade means for Kobe White’s trade value a player who some believed was a likely candidate that the Magic would look to pursue this summer and of course now would mean that Kobe is off the table for them after making this trade for Desmond Bane but it does make you question after the kind of hall the Grizzlies got for a player like Desmond Bane who is a great player but not an all-star level player and that trade essentially setting the trade market for this off season how does it impact the trade value for Kobe White if of course the Bulls look to go down that route and moving on from him so let’s talk about it what’s going on everyone you’re listening to Bull Central here hope you’re all doing well now prior to this trade it had been reported that the Magic were looking to package Cole Anthony and Jonathan Isaac along with Draft Capital in a deal for a quote unquote upgrade and of course based on how the Magic ended their season finishing 500 being a play-in team and getting bounced in the first round and having one of the worst offenses in the NBA it was clear an upgrade would mean a player who is going to elevate their offense more specifically their spacing and three-point shooting which Kobe White would fit that need desmond Bane fits that need even more because as much as I like Kobe Bane is a better all-around player and one of the best high volume three-point shooters in the league and a much more consistent shooter than Kobe White is but again giving up four unprotected picks to get this guy is a massive stretch especially considering Bane’s contract is very steep with over $160 million guaranteed left remaining on his deal in my view the Magic could have gotten Kobe for a much cheaper price not only in the amount they would have had to have given up to get him in a trade by not having to expel so much draft capital but also on a much more teamfriendly contract even with Kobe’s impending extension because even though Kobe is going to get paid he’s not going to be commanding near $40 million a year like Desmond Bane is like I’m pretty sure especially with AK’s negotiating skills the Bulls would have settled for a first round pick and a couple of seconds for Kobe White but regardless the trade was made and it now has implications on how value is going to be perceived for the rest of the offseason now to me if you had asked me before this trade I would have said Kobe’s value would have probably been in the 1 to2 late first round picks range maybe you could get more if you’re taking on a bad contract in return and part of the reason why I believe Kobe’s value although high it wouldn’t be that high that it would garner multiple first round picks is because he’s playing on an expiring contract and any team that trades for him knows that you’re going to have to pay him because you don’t want to trade away assets for a one-year rental but also there is a risk knowing that he’s going to be an unrestricted free agent that he could simply leave to go elsewhere and not commit long term however a trade like the one we just witnessed for Desmond Bane gives the Bulls a starting point and hopefully a bit of leverage that they will actually use in assessing Kobe’s trade value now I know some will say “Well why in the world would you want to trade Kobe White after he made so many great strides in the last couple of seasons?” still a young player that you can build with and I’m not disagreeing with any of that and I do think there is value in keeping Kobe around and even worth it to the Bulls to see how a Kobe giddy backcourt for a full season produces the same results we saw back in March and April but you also can’t be naive in the sense that Kobe likely isn’t ever going to be a number one option on a contending level team and having the presence of mind that he’s going to be a free agent next summer and you’re going to have to pay him to a level that is going to be much more challenging to move in a trade going forward so you have to be exploring all options you have to be taking calls to see what teams are interested in in Kobe and if someone gives you a compelling enough of an offer you go for it now I’m sure to some you would say “Well the Magic traded four first round picks but the picks aren’t going to be that valuable because they’re going to be late first rounders given the Magic are now going to be a team that’s contending in the East.” Well as I’ve always said when you trade unprotected picks that far out into the future you’re one major injury away from that pick being a lottery selection or what if things don’t work out and this team underachieves and those picks end up being much higher than what you initially anticipated like when the Bulls traded those two first round picks for Nikol Vuch back in 2021 they didn’t do so thinking they would be lottery selections they thought that by acquiring Vuvich and then adding more win now talent that those would be late first rounders but wouldn’t you know it the Bulls failed to reach the playoffs in those two seasons and the Magic ended up with lottery picks so no we don’t know that those picks aren’t going to be that valuable because we have no idea what the state of this Magic team is going to be 3 to 5 years from now not only that they also traded the Suns 2026 first round pick which was unprotected that could be a very juicy pick depending on what the Suns do this offseason so in my view these are valuable picks that the Grizzlies are acquiring and even though most would agree that Desmond Bane is a better player than Kobe White the gap between them isn’t that much neither have made an all-star team neither has ever been a number one option on their team neither of them have made deep playoff runs from an offensive perspective i mean last season Kobe actually averaged more points than Desmond Bay did bane is a better three-point shooter no one’s going to disagree with that but not by a significant margin where Bane shot 39% from three last year and Kobe shot 37% bane’s mid-range game is better than Kobe’s but Kobe has been better at getting to the foul line and shooting it better from the line from an efficiency standpoint looking at true shooting percentage they’re pretty equal the biggest thing that Bane has on Kobe White is that he’s a better defender he’s a more versatile player with his rebounding and playmaking ability as well so yes he is a better player than Kobe White but I wouldn’t say he’s by far and away above where Kobe is and if the gap isn’t that much who’s to say Kobe White shouldn’t be able to command more in a trade who’s to say the Bulls can’t get three first round picks for him i would have said that’s crazy to expect that kind of haul for Kobe last week but when a player like Bane goes for four firstbound picks that changes the market for what you should expect in return especially when we know there are going to be contending teams trying to make big swings to get them over the hump contending teams in need of more scoring and offensive output that Kobe can offer them again I wouldn’t be surprised if AK fumbles the bag on this and either uh you know hangs on to Kobe despite getting good offers or trading him well below his market value but that’s just because I have little faith in AK on what he’s shown us thus far i need to see some actual results in the other direction before my faith in this front office is restored but hey the off season has begun i’m looking forward to seeing what else is in store especially heading into the draft in a couple of weeks let me know what you guys thought of the Desmond Bane trade and the potential impact it has on Kobe White and his trade value let me know in the comments as always be sure to subscribe and I will see you in the next one

Discussing how the Desmond Bane trade to Orlando could impact Coby White’s trade value

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