Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon
The fourth pick in the 2014 NBA Draft out of Arizona, Orlando Magic forward, Aaron Gordon’s put up health stats this season.
Through 58 games played before the coronavirus pandemic halted NBA games, Gordon’s been averaging 14.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game for the eighth seeded Magic.
With is solid numbers, some say that Gordon could be traded during the NBA’s offseason.
In an article written by The Athletic’s Josh Robbins and Sam Vecenie it was suggested:
“To me, Gordon is the odd man out, and I think they could actually get a pretty real trade package for him with two years left on his deal at a very reasonable cost due to the descending structure of his contract. That’s the route I’d look at, despite the fact that I think Gordon is probably the second-best asset on the roster behind Isaac.”
A month later, what’s the latest?
To that we turn to Yahoo Sports’ Keith Smith who appeared on a recent episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
A Florida resident with the pulse on what’s going on within the Magic organization, I asked Smith his thoughts.
Check out notes from our dialogue below:
Keith Smith On Aaron Gordon and trade rumors:
“I’m very confident that Aaron likes being here. I think now that the team is starting to play better and into the playoffs last year, it looks like they would’ve been or will be a playoff team this year again and I think he enjoyed that part of it. I think he has a bigger role and how he’s grown into it here and he’s never given us any reason to do anything but, Orlando is where he wants to be. He continually says, “I want to win here. And I wanna win with these guys.” You know him and Evan Fournier, Nikola Vucevic and D.J. Augustin…they’ve all been together for a while so, that’s real important to help lead that. Now as far as will he be here, that’s a bigger question and an interesting one. Eventually, something’s going to have a break for the Magic with Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac. I just don’t know the two of them, either one is going to shoot well enough for them to play that many minutes together as your starting forwards. I think that becomes really a challenge because floor spacing is everything in the NBA right now. If you sag off these guys, it gets really, really tough and it’s going to put a lot of pressure on Evan Fournier, Nikola Vucevic and Fultz eventually. They’re all going to have to knock down jumpers; Fournier is a good shooter, Vucevic is a good center, but Fultz’s jumper is very much a work in progress so I think that’s eventually where it’s going to go. I don’t think that happens now, because Isaac again got injured. He probably won’t play even if the season comes back. We’ll see maybe if the season comes back he could get on the floor, but it seems pretty doubtful. They’re going to give it at least one more season with the two of them together and see how that roster comes together and then it’s going to be decision time. So think here through the summer unless they get blown away with a trade offer, but I think next year will be a decision point.”
With a 30-35 record, the Magic hold a three game winning streak before the coronavirus hiatus,. With notables like Markelle Fultz on Orlando’s youthful roster, the Magic went 6-4 in their last ten games.