Orlando Magic reportedly showing interest in Milwaukee Bucks GM John Hammond
By Ti Windisch
According to a recent Marc Stein report, the Orlando Magic are interested in Milwaukee Bucks GM John Hammond for their own GM vacancy.
The Milwaukee Bucks GM situation is a tad bit complicated, and the Orlando Magic are making things more interesting by reportedly being interested in Bucks GM John Hammond, according to Marc Stein.
League sources: Orlando interested in Milwaukee's John Hammond, Toronto's Jeff Weltman & Kevin McHale as well as top GM target David Griffin
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 4, 2017
It should be noted here that Orlando being interested in those candidates does not mean they’ll get any of them to take that job. The Magic have been a lottery team for five straight seasons, and after the disastrous Victor Oladipo trade somehow Orlando is without all that much to show for all of those high draft picks.
Hammond is reportedly in the process of grooming current Bucks assistant GM Justin Zanik to be his replacement, according to various reports from the summer, but that plan of succession would not take place until after the 2017-18 NBA season, through which Hammond is signed thanks to a one-year contract extension signed before this season.
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Could Hammond see the Magic as a nice place to prove that, as he did in Milwaukee, he can resurrect a sunken team and make them into a baby contender? Maybe, but it doesn’t really matter considering he’s under contract.
Unless the Magic know something that no Bucks reporter has picked up, i.e. that Zanik will take over sooner than reported and Hammond is out, it seems impossible for the current Bucks GM to end up anywhere else this summer.
Considering this is a franchise that traded Oladipo and the 11th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, plus Ersan Ilyasova, for Serge Ibaka, who was later traded for Terrence Ross and the 25th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, as well as accidentally leaked their offseason targets on an un-erased whiteboard, leading to the firing of their last GM, it does not seem likely Orlando has that kind of insider information.
Report: Leaked whiteboard photo played role in Magic GM Rob Hennigan's firing ➡️ https://t.co/GVv0dRXUeT pic.twitter.com/H5LT2qMdSJ
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) April 14, 2017
Given how poorly almost all of their recent personnel moves have turned out, it makes sense that Orlando would target proven judges of talent like Hammond and Cleveland Cavaliers GM David Griffin, who actually is not under contract for next season.
The problem is that every team knows about those guys, and they’re highly regarded already for that reason. After his fantastic 2016 NBA Draft and the unquestioned win that was the Tony Snell trade, it seems unlikely Milwaukee would be interested in suddenly ousting Hammond right now.
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As NBA fans have learned time and time again though, anything is possible.