Milwaukee Bucks: 3 trade suitors to watch for ahead of the trade deadline

Third suitor for the Milwaukee Bucks to watch for — Orlando Magic

While there is nothing linking the Bucks and the Orlando Magic at this stage, there has been plenty of smoke around the Magic as they have fallen off a cliff this 2020-21 season, in part due to undergoing significant injuries.

Much of the focus surrounding the Magic have involved some of their building blocks, whether it’s Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon, Terrence Ross and All-Star big man Nikola Vucevic. And as Real GM’s Keith Smith noted recently, the availability of those four vary from not available in Vucevic’s case to available, but have to be won over in Gordon and Ross’ cases, respectively.

Fournier is certainly interesting, but at an expiring $17 million, he’ll be too rich for the Bucks to smoothly acquire at the deadline. And that’s without factoring what the Magic would be interested in what Milwaukee has to offer.

While that quartet will be the subject of trade rumors for the following couple of weeks, the Magic have veteran supporting role players that the Magic could look to move and are affordable to the Bucks in a deal.

Someone like veteran wing James Ennis III could be of interest and certainly fills the defensive specialist role the Bucks are trying to fill at this juncture.

On an expiring $3.3 million salary, Ennis is averaging a career-high 7.3 points on 44.3 percent shooting from three and a 62.4 true shooting percentage over his 24 appearances on the year. All while supplying versatile defense alongside the Magic’s core. For the budget contract he’s on, the Bucks could offload fourth-year forward D.J. Wilson and a future second round pick to theoretically cleanly acquire Ennis under this scenario.

Another Magic veteran that could be of some interest in center Khem Birch, who is apparently garnering buzz on the trade market. While very affordable at an expiring $3 million, Birch, though, is more of a traditional center and doesn’t exactly fit the needs Milwaukee is apparently looking for.

Currently 3.5 games out of the final play-in spot in the East, the Magic will soon be faced with the answer to the question of whether they will be able to make a valiant run towards that spot. If they feel they aren’t, they could hold the cards and eventually dictate this year’s activity at the deadline.

As hard-pressed as the Bucks are in making a move, we’ll continue to follow any reports linking them to any trade buzz over the following couple of weeks and into the emerging buyout market.