Warriors / Magic discussing Aaron Gordon?

[Roy H.]

According to the Athletic's Anthony Slater the Golden State Warriors and Orlando Magic talked trade back a few weeks ago and it appears the chatter has continued. Trade talks are circled around Magic forward Aaron Gordon.

This is the second time in a week Gordon's name has surfaced as we reported last week from Forbes, that Gordon was on his way out of Orlando.

The biggest hurdle with this deal is the money, as the Warriors have a decent package to offer considering they can throw in the #2 overall pick and Eric Paschall, they would still need more to make the money right.

https://www.bballrumors.com/2020/09/warriors-and-magic-have-been-talking.html

Take it with a grain of salt.

[ederson]

So the warriors want to land Gordon with the package(+wiggins) they were supposed to get Gainnis ?!?!?!?

[DefenseWinsChamps]

To me, this is an obvious trade for both teams. This is one I tried to orchestrate in our mock off-season.

Aaron Gordon has been disappointing thus far in his career, but part of that is his role and team. Can you imagine how well Draymond Green would have performed on that Magic team over the last 6 years?

Gordon has demonstrated the ability to pass and play in an up tempo offense. His efficiency would skyrocket in the Warrior flex/motion offense when all the attention is on Curry and Thompson.

On top of that, while his defense wasn't great through much of his early career, most stats (and eye tests) indicate that he was much, much better this year. That was part of the reason for the Magic's defensive success this year.

Gordon would be an ideal defensive wing next to the Warrior front court that could move up to the 4 next to Green.

The trade is sitting right there. Wiggins and 2 for Gordon and Fournier, with Fournier fitting into the Iggy trade exemption. Depending on how they fill out the rest of their team, they could get out of the luxury tax for one season while getting two veteran role players that could be playoff rotation players for them.

For the Magic, Wiggins is the scorer on the wing that they could talk themselves into thinking they need.

[footey]

Aaron Gordon for the #2 pick, even in a weak draft, seems like a stretch to me.  I am having a hard time envisioning him as a missing piece in GSW system.  His stock dropped a lot last season.

[KGs Knee]

The #2 pick for Aaron Gordon?

That's one of the dumber sports related things I've heard in a while. Aaron Gordon is barely an above average basketball player, certainly not worth a top pick, regardless of the quality of this class of prospects.

I really cannot fathom GSW seriously entertaining this, although this report doesn't exactly imply they are, just that it's an option.

[gift]

Kinda weird. Maybe this is just the "opening bid"?

[pearljammer10]

Can't be true. The number 2 pick for Gordon makes no sense, especially when bigger names have been throw to GSWs way as possibilities.

A Wiggins for Gordon swap would have more legs IMO. Gordon gets a fresh start Wiggins takes on Orlando.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I disagree with the evaluation of Gordon and Wiggins on this board. Wiggins is probably still a negative value contract, meaning you'd have to give up something just to trade him. With his play for a few weeks early in the year last year, he may have made his contract neutral, but he is not positive value.

Wiggins value is to score on the wing, and he honestly doesn't do that with great efficiency (only a little better than Gordon). He's a high usage scorer with meh efficiency. There are a lot of guys like that and very few of them contribute to winning basketball. He is probably the worst wing defender in the league. He doesn't really contribute on the boards. He did develop as a passer a little bit last year, which is encouraging, but some of that may have been KAT's efficiency more than anything. On top of that, he is probably one of the five worst contracts in the NBA. Horford being the only one that is clearly worse.

Gordon provides much more value than Wiggins as a player, and his contract is way better. Gordon is already a much better distributor on lower usage. He's played out of position his entire career in Orlando (its unclear if that is his fault or Orlando's) on a team that is one of the slowest and most congested offensive teams in the NBA. Gordon contributes on the boards at a good level. On top of all of that, he became a pretty good, versatile defender this year, including having some of the best defensive numbers against the best offensive players in the NBA. He also has a smaller (18, 18, and 16 million over the next three years) descending contract that fits perfectly next to the Warriors core and their bloated contracts.

The Warriors need a player like Gordon to contend again. There are not many out there on contracts that fit their salary cap situation.

[keevsnick]

Well if they are discussing how to make the money work then it looks like they may be trying to figure out how to fit Gordon into their trade exception, he makes too much to do it straight up but if they trade for a contract that does they could flip that contract for Gordon and use salary matching rules to make up the difference.

#2 picks feels like a lot to give up, but its a week draft so maybe they'd do #2 pick for ORL #15 and Gordon. Give ORL a chance to get one of the guards at the top, gives GSW a solid wing while allowing them to maybe get another bench contributor at 15.

GSW would still have Wiggins contract for salary matching, and MIN 21' pick (protected top 3) for another trade down the line.

[NKY fan]

Well if they are discussing how to make the money work then it looks like they may be trying to figure out how to fit Gordon into their trade exception, he makes too much to do it straight up but if they trade for a contract that does they could flip that contract for Gordon and use salary matching rules to make up the difference.

#2 picks feels like a lot to give up, but its a week draft so maybe they'd do #2 pick for ORL #15 and Gordon. Give ORL a chance to get one of the guards at the top, gives GSW a solid wing while allowing them to maybe get another bench contributor at 15.

GSW would still have Wiggins contract for salary matching, and MIN 21' pick (protected top 3) for another trade down the line.

I was wondering the same thing. They can’t fit Gordon contract to their $17M exception. Can they trade for Johnson from Minnesota (wolves probably would love to get rid of his $16M salary) absorbing his contract into the trade exception.
I know that once you trade for a player you can flip him immediately for another player as long as some salary requirements are met. I was wondering if the incoming salary after they flip Johnson for a player has to be less or equal to what Johnson makes?

[keevsnick]

Well if they are discussing how to make the money work then it looks like they may be trying to figure out how to fit Gordon into their trade exception, he makes too much to do it straight up but if they trade for a contract that does they could flip that contract for Gordon and use salary matching rules to make up the difference.

#2 picks feels like a lot to give up, but its a week draft so maybe they'd do #2 pick for ORL #15 and Gordon. Give ORL a chance to get one of the guards at the top, gives GSW a solid wing while allowing them to maybe get another bench contributor at 15.

GSW would still have Wiggins contract for salary matching, and MIN 21' pick (protected top 3) for another trade down the line.

I was wondering the same thing. They can’t fit Gordon contract to their $17M exception. Can they trade for Johnson from Minnesota (wolves probably would love to get rid of his $16M salary) absorbing his contract into the trade exception.
I know that once you trade for a player you can flip him immediately for another player as long as some salary requirements are met. I was wondering if the incoming salary after they flip Johnson for a player has to be less or equal to what Johnson makes?

That's one example. If they traded for Johnson he fits into the trade exception. They then could flip him and using salary matching rules take back a player making MORE than him like Aaron Gordon. I believe it has to be with 125% +100,000 of the money you send out.

[Tr1boy]

Aaron Gordon for the #2 pick, even in a weak draft, seems like a stretch to me.  I am having a hard time envisioning him as a missing piece in GSW system.  His stock dropped a lot last season.

I would imaginea trade would look something like

To GSW: Gordon, Fournier, 15th pick
To Magic: Wiggings, 2nd pick

[Roy H.]

Aaron Gordon for the #2 pick, even in a weak draft, seems like a stretch to me.  I am having a hard time envisioning him as a missing piece in GSW system.  His stock dropped a lot last season.

I would imaginea trade would look something like

To GSW: Gordon, Fournier, 15th pick
To Magic: Wiggings, 2nd pick

That would be a steal for the Warriors.

[gift]

Aaron Gordon for the #2 pick, even in a weak draft, seems like a stretch to me.  I am having a hard time envisioning him as a missing piece in GSW system.  His stock dropped a lot last season.

I would imaginea trade would look something like

To GSW: Gordon, Fournier, 15th pick
To Magic: Wiggings, 2nd pick

That would be a steal for the Warriors.

yeah that's really good value for this particular 2nd pick (acknowledging that the value of the pick now doesn't determine how good the player ends up being).

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Aaron Gordon for the #2 pick, even in a weak draft, seems like a stretch to me.  I am having a hard time envisioning him as a missing piece in GSW system.  His stock dropped a lot last season.

I would imaginea trade would look something like

To GSW: Gordon, Fournier, 15th pick
To Magic: Wiggings, 2nd pick

That would be a steal for the Warriors.

Yep