The NBA trade deadline isn’t until 3 p.m. on Thursday, but teams have already gotten active on the market. In past days, we’ve heard continued rumors of some big names like Blake Griffin, Dwight Howard and Rudy Gay potentially moving by then, but today another name joined the conversation: Brandon Jennings.
ESPN’s Chris Broussard is reporting that the Pistons traded guards Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova to the Orlando Magic for Tobias Harris, their promising young forward. The move comes as the Magic skid towards yet another season out of the playoffs after a great first two months, and the Pistons sit within arms’ reach of the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Though Orlando signed Harris to a $46 million extension at the end of last season, the Magic are stacked at the forward position, and though Harris is likely the best talent they have at the position, unloading his contract in favor of a veteran playmaker could bode well for Orlando moving forward, especially if they plan on trying to make another playoff push. Despite winning just 3 of their last 18 games, they’re just 3.5 games out of the 8th seed in the East, and just 3 games behind Detroit.
