Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic are currently in the midst of what figures to be a highly important offseason as for the future direction of the franchise following a successful 2023-24 campaign. Although the Magic were unable to advance past the first round of the playoffs, they still had their most competitive postseason showing since Dwight Howard left the franchise in 2012, and Banchero earned his first All-Star nod in just his second NBA season.
Still, there is clearly quite a bit of work to be done in order to make this roster a true contender, and perhaps the most glaring weakness that currently exists for Orlando is their perimeter shooting, or more accurately, their lack thereof.
Luckily for the Magic, there are several sharpshooters and perimeter scorers who could potentially be on the free agent market this offseason, and Orlando is now being once again linked to both ahead of the offseason.
“Philadelphia is not the only Eastern Conference team to monitor when it comes to trying to sign Paul George away from the LA Clippers,” reported NBA insider Marc Stein on his Substack. “Orlando continues to be mentioned by various league observers as a natural suitor for George as well as Golden State's Klay Thompson. The Clippers certainly hope to retain George in free agency, but they’ve made it clear by letting negotiations drag out to this point that they want to do it at their price.”
Stein also reported that “the Clippers have the rest of the month to come to terms with George on an extension that would prevent him from becoming a free agent.”
An interesting decision
As Stein referenced in his report, another team that Paul George has been linked to in free agency is the Philadelphia 76ers, who could also use some more wing depth after their own exit in the first round of this year's playoffs. Although he doesn't possess the athleticism he once did, George is still a savvy scorer who can use his size and ball-handling ability to get to his spots much more consistently than anyone else on the Magic roster.
Thompson, meanwhile, is more of a strictly catch and shoot player at this point in his career that would figure to come off of the bench for a true contender. The memory of Thompson missing every shot he took in the Golden State Warriors' Play-In game loss to the Sacramento Kings will be ingrained in the minds of NBA fans for quite some time, but Thompson is still one of the better sharpshooters in the league who led the NBA in total three pointers made just a year ago.
Other names that could potentially be free agents and would seemingly make sense on the Magic include D'Angelo Russell of the Los Angeles Lakers, among others. In any case, the Magic owe it to Banchero to put together a more competent offensive roster so that defenses don't have as much leeway to send double teams his way, as the Cleveland Cavaliers often did in this year's postseason.
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