You heard it here first: Shams Charania never misses. And his latest breaking story is a banger too. Making the playoffs masked deeper issues. So don’t get it mistaken—both Memphis and Orlando must make changes to compete. The latest news between the pair? Desmond Bane is on the move, but he’s not alone. It seems like the Magic are giving up a lot of trade assets along with it for Bane. And let’s just say that their fans are less than pleased with the deal.

“BREAKING: The Memphis Grizzlies are trading Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four unprotected first-round picks and one first-round pick swap, sources tell ESPN,” wrote Charania on his socials. Bane really was an asset for the Grizz. There was no one else supporting Ja Morant in his magic. But Orlando made sure they still came out second in this race. If you wanna know how, read his statement again.

There’s no denying Desmond Bane’s talent. He was one of the only ones keeping Memphis relevant in the West. But 4 unprotected first round picks? Orlando might’ve overestimated him here. Obviously, you never know how good he might turn out to be in Magic colors. But the fans are too impatient for that. So let’s break it down.

Magic’s sacrifices to get Desmond Bane have fans enraged

Why don’t we get to the point instead of beating around the bush? Those unprotected picks are likely never coming back to Orlando. And the fans know it. They said things on the lines of “4 UNPROTECTED FIRST ROUND PICKS FOR WHO,” “HOW MANY FIRSTS FOR DESMOND BANE,” and “Four unprotected picks for Desmond Bane is insane😭.”

The caption to that post said, “Orlando is sending to Memphis the No. 16 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Phoenix’s first-round pick in 2026, Magic 2028 unprotected first-rounder and Orlando’s 2030 unprotected first, sources said. Pick swap is lightly protected in 2029.” That’s a lot of draft assets that could’ve been used on a more promising player.

Sure, Bane’s only 26 and has a long way to go. But his highest stat ranking in the league is 30th, for an 89.4% accuracy from the free-throw line. Did they forget that the Suns and the Bucks were looking for exactly what they let go of?

Maybe the Magic forgot, but the fans sure didn’t. Some of them said, “If Desmond bane can get 4 unprotected firsts, let’s then consider what the package would need to be for Giannis,” and “Orlando could’ve traded for Durant or Giannis with those picks lol.”

To be fair to both teams, they knew their pecking order. There’s no doubt that both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant would wanna go to teams that can bring them a good few rings in their years left. Are either Memphis or Orlando even close? Not at all. But with those trade assets, getting Giannis or KD wouldn’t be fully out of the spectrum. Well, that was until they traded for Bane.

With the complexion of the league, you never know how this deal might shape up. For all we know, Desmond Bane could be the second coming of Bane from Batman himself. And if that’s the case, the Magic are better off with him than any of the draft picks they let go of. But who came off better from this deal?