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The Raptors stay winning deals, and the Magic keep losing them. As reported by the all-mightly Woj, Toronto is set to receive a generous gift from Orlando as compensation for their installing Jeff Weltman as team president.
Sources: As compensation for Weltman hire, Orlando will send Toronto the least favorable of the two second-round picks it controls in 2018.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) May 25, 2017
Admittedly, a less favourable second round pick in 2018 isn’t a huge haul. The Magic will likely still be bad by then — as they’ll be tanking to undo all the damage previous GM Rob Hennigan did — and the other pick they own is from the Lakers, who could still be struggling in two years. (Though you never know, what with Lonzo Ball presumably on his way and Paul George looking on hungrily.) There’s a non-zero chance it ends up in the 30s, which would be the best case scenario.
Still, getting a second round pick, especially after the Raptors traded away both their 2017 and 2018 second rounders for P.J. Tucker, is a tidy bit of business for merely losing an executive (even one as beloved as Weltman).
Not sure how Masai Ujiri makes a transaction like this happen — promotion leverage is implied here — but it’s quite a move.