NBA Trade Rumors: Should Magic Deal for Bulls PG?

Coby White averaged 12.7 points per game last season.

ORLANDO - The Orlando Magic has a long way to go before it becomes a contender in the NBA again.

And chances are, many players currently on the roster won't be there when the team is relevant again. That means Magic president Jeff Weltman and the front office need to get creative when it comes to transactions.

Bleacher Report offered up a suggestion has the Magic acquiring Chicago Bulls point guard Coby White.

White doesn't have an obvious path to major minutes in Chicago now or in the future. Get him to Orlando, though, and he might have all the developmental time he can handle. 

Yes, the Magic have other young guards on the roster—including Markelle Fultz, Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony—but none are so established that the franchise should shy away from exploring alternatives. Besides, White is younger than Fultz and only a few months older than Anthony, so he arguably has just as good of a chance to cement himself with the long-term nucleus as anyone. 

White packs a powerful scoring punch and is a capable secondary playmaker, so he could give some offensive oomph to an Orlando outfit that badly needs it. At the cost of Ross and a future second-rounder—with Bradley in the deal as salary-filler—White is worth the gamble.

White averaged 15.1 points per game during the 2020-21 season where he was the primary starter. But when Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan came in last season, White was reduced to a backup role and his scoring averaged dipped to 12.7 points.

White's backup status and impending free agency next offseason make him a prime trade candidate this year, and while he probably would come off the bench in Orlando, he provides competition for Cole Anthony and Markelle Fultz to ensure that one of the trio rises to become the team's point guard of the future.