Orlando Magic Trade Deadline Targets: Realistic Deals, Salary Cap Reality & Luxury Tax Pressure
With less than two weeks until the NBA trade deadline, the Orlando Magic are starting to surface in trade rumors — and this video breaks down what’s actually realistic versus what fans see on social media. In this episode of Orlando Magic Nation, Edwin Valentin provides a detailed, CBA-aware look at Orlando’s trade deadline options, focusing on how the salary cap, luxury tax, first apron, and future repeater tax risk shape every possible move.
This isn’t a trade-machine fantasy video. Instead, it explains why the Magic are motivated to get under the luxury tax, how past offseason maneuvering (including the Desmond Bane trade and declined options) created flexibility, and what the front office must balance between improving the roster now and protecting long-term flexibility once Paolo Banchero’s max extension fully kicks in.
Edwin walks through realistic trade candidates the Magic have been linked to — including Coby White, Dennis Schröder, and other bench-scoring or backup point guard options — while explaining which contracts are most likely to be moved (Jonathan Isaac, Goga Bitadze, Tyus Jones, Jet Howard) and why Orlando is unlikely to touch its core or rookie-scale contributors.
What you can expect from this video:
A clear explanation of the NBA luxury tax, first apron, and repeater tax
Why Orlando wants to get under the tax this season
How the non-taxpayer vs taxpayer mid-level exception actually works
Why some trades help short-term but hurt long-term flexibility
Realistic trade constructions that make financial sense
Expiring contracts vs multi-year salary risks
Why bench scoring and backup point guard play are urgent needs
Edwin’s preferred trade path — even if it means paying the tax next year
If you’re an Orlando Magic fan who wants realistic, cap-informed trade analysis, this video will help you understand not just who the Magic could target, but why certain moves make sense — and others don’t — under the current CBA.
🔔 Subscribe to Orlando Magic Nation for in-depth Magic analysis, trade deadline breakdowns, and honest, fan-first coverage — by a Magic fan, for Magic fans.
0:00 Intro
0:49 Trade and Cap Primer
6:13 Cap Breakdown 24-25 thru 26-27
17:49 Current Cap Status
20:04 Coby White Trades
23:59 Dennis Schroder Trades
27:06 Benedict Mathurin Trade
28:56 Dalton Knecht Trade
31:09 Outro
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5 Comments
This was a great episode; it covered a lot in half an hour.
If the magic billionaire owner(s) truly feel like they are giving away money on this team, funding this teams chances to truly competefor a title, then I'd take it, and other Magic fans should take that as a sign that the owners do not believe the team is good enough even after trading for Bane. And that all the owners wanted was to get back to league respectability, 500, while giving lip service about winning a championship to the fans.
He will absolutely risk losing Banchero and Franz by choosing this route
We'll see
Under the new CBA, if the magic finishes the regular season above the First Apron, they are restricted to the smaller "Taxpayer MLE" (currently around $5.9M) for the subsequent summer.
To "unlock" the full Non-Taxpayer MLE (projected at $14.8M for the 2026-27 season), the Magic must be under the First Apron ($195.9M) by the conclusion of the 2025-26 regular season.
Paolo Banchero’s rookie scale extension (signed in July 2025) officially hits the budget sheets on July 1, 2026.
Get under the apron by April to ensure you have the $14.8M tool available in July.
Use that MLE to grab a high-level rotation player before Paolo’s new $42M salary makes the roster too expensive to add anyone other than minimum-contract players.
potential targets who could fit into that $14M–$15M range in the 2026 offseason:
Ayo Dosunmu
Kevin Huerter
Donte DiVincenzo
Quentin Grimes
Unpopular Opinion
We need to criticize Weltman more for signing Tyus to do the job of a Corey Joseph, who we paid the min, especially with the hard cap situation. Even more than the criticism given to TYus himself, imo.
He's the opposite of what we usually bring on the team. Not an athlete. Needs the ball. Mainly this is the pick n roll …. we barely do that.
Bad defense. Short . Not long
Unpopular opinion
Nobody is taking JI off us without us giving up a 1st.
We let him ruin his trade value by not eventually playing him more than 20 min per game.