Magic forward
Serge Ibaka can’t control his future with the team. So as trade rumors swirl, he’ll focus on what he can: basketball.
Serge Ibaka avoids social media these days. With the NBA trade deadline looming on Feb. 23, the Orlando Magic power forward knows his name will appear in rumors. So he keeps off Twitter.
“I don’t want to think about that: the trade deadline,” Ibaka said. “My focus is to play basketball right now. I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t want to think about it. I just focus on playing basketball. At the end, we’ll see what happens.”
But Ibaka may have to confront the trade deadline head-on.
With the Magic’s season in a shambles and with Ibaka scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, the team has to explore the trade market and strongly consider trading him.
One potential danger of keeping Ibaka beyond the trade deadline — the danger brought up most often in media reports — is that Ibaka may want to sign
“I’m disappointed about my season because we’re not really winning the way we want. We are not playing the way we were thinking [we would].” Magic’s Serge Ibaka
with another team in free agency this summer rather than remain with the Magic.The Magic traded Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis, the 11th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, to acquire Ibaka. So losing Ibaka in free agency without receiving any assets in return would be a costly embarrassment to the franchise.
Yet there is another reason why the Magic would consider trading Ibaka on or before Feb. 23: Re-signing him in free agency would not guarantee an improvement next season.
When the Magic first acquired Ibaka, team officials billed him as an elite shot-blocker who would upgrade the team’s defense and improve the team’s spacing on offense. Magic officials doubled down on their defensefirst plan by signing center Bismack Biyombo and forward Jeff Green in free agency.
Yet the experiment has been an unmitigated disaster.
The Magic own a 20-33 record. Blowout losses such as Saturday night’s 113-86 defeat in Atlanta have become alarmingly common. From Dec. 7 through Saturday, the Magic ranked 27th in the NBA in points allowed per possession and 27th in field-goal percentage defense.
“[I’ve] never been in this situation before,” Ibaka said after the loss in Atlanta. “I know that people are criticizing — media, fans — but I’m just going to focus on [playing]. Sometimes those kinds of situations are going to make you a better person — not in basketball but off the court because one day I’m going to stop playing basketball.
“When you lose, when the team loses, all I can say is, it’s not about me no more,” Ibaka added. “It’s about the team. I don’t care how good you play, if your team is losing, it doesn’t matter. I’m disappointed about my season because we’re not really winning the way we want. We are not playing the way we were thinking [we would]. So I’m personally disappointed. But I’m not going to give up.”
Blaming Ibaka for the team’s problems would be unfair. Statistically, he has been solid, averaging 14.9 points per game, making 48.2 percent of his shots and 38.2 percent of his 3-pointers. And the Magic have myriad problems, including an overall failure to contain the basketball on the perimeter and a lack of quality outside shooting.
But Ibaka was supposed to be the linchpin of an improving team.
Considering that the team is 13 games under .500 even with him in the fold, why would the Magic want to pay him a windfall in free agency this summer?
After all, changing.
Ibaka is averaging 1.6 blocks per game, his lowest average since his rookie season with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2009-10. A large reason for the deIbaka cline is that opposing offenses are taking Ibaka farther and farther away from the hoop and are negating his shot-blocking prowess.
Orlando may be better off trying to acquire whatever assets they can now rather than try to repeat the experiment next season.
The Toronto Raptors are one of the teams the Magic have spoken with about Ibaka.
Ibaka could be an ideal complementary piece for the Raptors, who already have All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry and All-Star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan. Ibaka would help the Raptors stretch the floor on offense, and he would improve their rim protection.
The Magic likely have interest in the Raptors’ Terrence Ross, a 26-year-old wing who is a good long-range shooter but has never fully harnessed his physical gifts.
Magic officials also like Raptors power forward Patrick Patterson. In 2014, the Magic tried to sign Patterson as a restricted free agent, but Patterson chose to re-sign with the Raptors.
Magic general manager Rob Hennigan has praised recently.
“We value Serge a great deal,” Hennigan told the Orlando Sentinel on Jan. 23. “He’s been really good for us, and he’s certainly someone that we hope is in our future.”
But Hennigan would not rule out considering a trade when he was asked about the impact of Ibaka’s impending free agency.
“We have to go into the trade deadline looking to improve the team by any means necessary,” Hennigan said. “So we’re not in a position with our team right now to not explore and listen to any ideas or concepts that come our way or that we inquire about. So the goal’s to improve the team any way we can.”
Ibaka’s been through tougher times in his life than the Magic’s last few months. Ibaka grew up in the Congo amid a civil war, and his mother passed away when he was young.
“Life is never easy,” Ibaka said. “In life, you are up and down. I come from zero and I had to push myself up. Now, I’m here in the NBA today. I’m not going to give up. I’m going to keep pushing. I always try to get my mindset ready for the next game.”