Magic, Wizards In Serious Arenas Trade Talks

[MapleLeaf]

From Yahoo Sports

Orlando and Washington are engaged in serious discussions for a trade that would send Gilbert Arenas(notes) to the Magic, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Arenas has privately told people for days that he believes a deal will soon send him to Orlando, where he’ll be reunited with Magic general manager Otis Smith, a friend and mentor from Arenas’ days with the Golden State Warriors. Sources said Orlando has escalated its pursuit of a deal in recent days. After losing five of their past six games, the Magic have shown more urgency to find a perimeter scorer who can help them stay a viable contender in the Eastern Conference.

Still unclear was whether Orlando would send the expiring contract of Vince Carter(notes) as part of the package or build a trade around longer-term contracts, including that of backup center Marcin Gortat(notes), sources said. The Wizards also have been angling to get a first-round pick in return, sources said.

Arenas has four years and $60 million left on his Wizards deal. Following his 50-game suspension for bringing guns into the Wizards locker room last season, Arenas became further expendable after Washington drafted No. 1 overall pick John Wall(notes).

The Magic have discussed Gortat with other teams, sources said. Several teams, including Houston and Portland, have inquired about the 7-footer’s availability. If the Magic are going to take on the remainder of Arenas’ contract, it could be important for them to trim some other deals to spare their luxury-tax hit with what’s already a league-high $94.7 million payroll.

Orlando has had discussions on several fronts, sources said. Phoenix has been making calls to shop forward Hedo Turkoglu(notes) and had a conversation with Orlando about the former Magic forward. Turkoglu is in the second season of a five-year, $53 million contract. The Toronto Raptors traded him to the Suns over the summer, but Phoenix is already looking for ways to get off the remaining four years, and $44 million on his deal, sources said.

 

[Pugz]

trading gortat would be bad, id think. i really like his game.

 

[Swish]

Well it's hard to imagine Arenas meshing it up with Howard and the Magic crew but it could happen. I mean, Lewis and Arenas have both horrible contract and Lewis is not that good. So Magic could really benefit from trading Lewis for Arenas.

 

[DJT]

I think Arenas would flourish in the system. He just needs to knock down those 3s, and he's proved this season that he can still play. I think Washington would be hesitant until they can get Wall healthy.

I'd love to see this trade go down though.

 

[A.E]

Yahoo is reporting that both deals are just about done:

The Magic also are nearing completion on a deal to send forward Rashard Lewis to the Wizards for Arenas, sources said. No other players or picks will be in that trade.

As a prelude to the trade for Arenas, the Magic have agreed in principle to send guards Vince Carter and Mickael Pietrus, backup center Marcin Gortat, a first-round pick and $3 million to the Phoenix Suns for Turkoglu and Richardson, sources said.

 

[elcheato]

Magic basically admitting they ###### up with the Vince Carter - Hedo situation 2 years ago..

 

[MapleLeaf]

J-Rich and Arenas reunited from their Golden State days

Also 2 of the best dunkers in the past decade traded for each other lol

 

[A.E]

I don't know why Orlando insists on stirring the pot so much when they slump.

 

[DJT]

Ooo Pietrus being involved. The Suns will love him. I always thought he should get more time in Orlando.

 

[DJT]

NBA.com is reporting its pretty much done. Shard for Arenas.

Magic, Wizards closing in on Lewis-for-Arenas deal
By David Aldridge, TNT analyst
Posted Dec 18 2010 3:03PM
The Washington Wizards and Orlando Magic are close to a trade that will send guard Gilbert Arenas to Orlando in exchange for forward Rashard Lewis, a league source tells TNT's David Aldridge.
The proposed trade was expected to be completed Saturday, perhaps before the Wizards played the Miami Heat Saturday evening in Washington and the Magic host the 76ers in Orlando.
The deal would rid the Wizards of one of their biggest public relations headaches in years. While Arenas helped Washington make the playoffs for the first time in a decade and became an All-Star playing alongside Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, his infamous suspension for bringing guns into the Verizon Center locker room last December as part of a prank and/or confrontation with then-teammate Javaris Crittenton cast a shadow over the franchise. Arenas was suspended by Commissioner David Stern for the final 50 games of last season and served time in a halfway house in the D.C. suburbs after pleading guilty to one felony count of carrying a pistol without a license.
Arenas returned to the Wizards this season and has played reasonably well, averaging 17.3 points and 5.6 assists for Washington. He would give Orlando someone who can create for himself and others off the dribble, something the Magic have sorely lacked this season as they has struggled at times against the league's better teams. And Arenas' close relationship with Orlando GM Otis Smith, who mentored Arenas while the two were in Golden State, has been well-documented.
Lewis is averaging his lowest point total in a decade for Orlando this season, scoring just 12.2 points a night on 41 percent shooting from the floor. He has struggled at times making the adjustment to playing more small forward this season than he has for the Magic; he thrived as a "stretch four" power forward playing next to center Dwight Howard in previous seasons, but the Magic has opted to give emerging forward Brandon Bass more minutes at that position this season.
The deal could save Washington at least $24 million; Arenas has four years and $80 million remaining on his $111 million deal signed two years ago, while Lewis has three years and $63 million left on the $124 million deal he signed as a free agent in 2007. But only $10 million of the $22.6 million he is owed in the final year of the contract, in 2012-13, is fully guaranteed. Lewis can increase the guarantee if he meets certain performance criteria between now and then.
Though rumors about an Orlando acquisition of Arenas have been circulating for weeks, the increase in intensity in trade discussions between the two teams was first reported Friday night by Yahoo! Sports.

 

[Pugz]

pretty big ass day for orlando. i love both deals for them but its all scoring theyre getting. lol

 

[Dorado]

as a Magic fan im super hyped!!!!!!

good day to be a Magic fan IMO

 

[$tunna]

So their new lineup is like

Jameer
Arenas
Hedo/J-Rich
Bass
Dwight

??????

 

[RipCity32]

Damn, Orlando is revamping hard as fuck lol.

 

[bestkeptsecret13]

I'm interested to see how Hedo, J-Rich, Gilbert, Jameer, Redick, Q-Rich and Duhon all get minutes...

 

[DJT]

It'll be interesting to see how they mesh.

 

[Pugz]

thats all scoring, shit. honestly think about this long and hard. i dont see them being as good as they may think..

 

[Whisper]

Duhon is obviously the odd man out. Almost every time I see Orlando they have this play where he would be wide open and do jumping jacks to distract the defense so that the other guys can take advantage and maybe score. It works sometimes, but eh... not a go-to play.

I see it as;

Howard
Bass
Turkeyglue / Q-Rich
J-Rich / Reddick
Arenas / Nelson / Duhon

Nelson could move to the bench kinda like Odom did when Gasol came over and be the firepower/leader off the bench.

Idk. Let's see what Stan The Man has in mind.

 

[Mexi]

^i'd do what you did, just start Jameer
Arenas off the bench is better than at 2 because they have nobody on the bench who can get their own shot

end of the game will be interesting
hedo, gil, jameer all love taking over. dwight's gonna want the ball too

just need like 2 more bigs. all they have is Dwight and Bass

 

[elcheato]

Well at least now they have two MVP candidates in Dwight Howard and Agent Zero