Orlando finally takes a risk

Good morning. Desmond Bane is a Magician and Kevin Durant has a list. Let's basketball.

We need a collectively approved name for really big trades that don't involve any players that have ever made an All-Star team. It's not a "blockbuster trade" if many casual fans don't recognize the key player involved as a star, even though he is. Let's call it a "Hollywood Video trade," then.

The Grizzlies sent Desmond Bane to the Magic for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four first-round picks and a 2029 pick swap (protected top-2). That is ... a lot of picks for Desmond Bane, who is a star but has never been an All-Star.

Let's look at the picks one bit more closely, though.

• The first first is the No. 16 pick in this draft. A nice asset but nothing crazy.
• The 2026 pick is unprotected but has some other conditions attached to it going back to the Bradley Beal trade and a subsequent weird draft equity arbitrage trade in July 2023. In any case, Memphis will end up with with Orlando's 2026 unless the lesser of the Wizards and Suns picks next year is better than the Magic pick. The Grizzlies need the Wizards and Suns to stink next year, basically. Pretty decent chance of that.
• The Magic's 2028 and 2030 unprotected picks (good assets) and the top-2 protected 2029 pick swap (good asset).

So that's a pretty good haul for Memphis. On the salary cap management front, Caldwell-Pope and Anthony will make a combined $35 million next season. KCP is on the books for another $22 million in 2026-27, but Anthony has a club option for $13 million. So Memphis could get some cap relief then. Bane's on a big contract: $37 million next season (so minimal relief for the Grizzlies), $39 million in 2026-27, $42 million 2027-28, $45 million in 2028-29. With Bane at age 26 and the cap rising, you wouldn't necessarily expect that contract to be a major problem. But it is hefty, and the Grizzlies would otherwise be a bit stuck in their current form by keeping Bane unless they traded Ja Morant or Jaren Jackson Jr.