Orlando Magic NBA Trade Rumors 2017: Raptors, Heat Among the Teams Interested in Ibaka
The Orlando Magic were hoping to contend for a playoff spot when they acquired Serge Ibaka from the Oklahoma Thunder in exchange for Victor Oladipo, the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis, and Ersan Ilyasova. Unfortunately, things didn't work out quite as expected and the team struggled. Well, the Magic have been busy shopping Ibaka ahead of the trade deadline next week and a couple of Easter Conference rivals are reportedly interested in acquiring his services.
ESPN's Mark Stein has reported that the Toronto Raptors and the Miami Heat have expressed their interest in Ibaka, however, he also noted that the Magic may wait until the day of the deadline to make a decision.
"More than one rival club has expressed the belief that Orlando will use the next 10 days before the deadline to keep fielding offers and then, ultimately, choose the best available package for Ibaka on Feb. 23 and make the move," Stein stated.
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Well, they clearly want the best deal possible because they gave up a lot to get him. Teams who are interested in acquiring him should be a little wary because Ibaka is currently in the final year of his contract. He will become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason and he can just leave and sign elsewhere.
Ibaka's stay in Orlando didn't pan out the way the team thought it would, but he's still a solid player who could spread the floor and act as a defensive anchor.
The trade rumors were clearly bothering Ibaka, but he knows that he couldn't do anything about it, so he's just going to focus on playing basketball.
"I don't want to think about that: the trade deadline. 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," he said, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
