The Orlando Magic, like most NBA teams, have a few planned tricks up their sleeves for the upcoming offseason.
Unfortunately, the entire world now knows about them.
The Magic signed Argentine guard Patricio Garino on Monday, and his agent, Carlos Prunes, tweeted out a photo of his client inking the contract. Standard procedure, right? Well, there was one problem: Orlando’s offseason “big board” — complete with a full list of NBA free-agent targets and potential trades — was in the background.
Prunes quickly deleted the tweet, but not before the Internet preserved it forever via screenshot.
UMM…did Orlando Magic just leak their targets for trades and free agency?? 🤔 https://t.co/k9bAKImJKK pic.twitter.com/zXoNNHzOWB
— theScore (@theScore) April 4, 2017
The board reveals four different categories — including “Hybrid Trade,” Hybrid Free Agency,” “Spread Bigs Trade” and a separate column that appears to be free agents — that each feature a lengthy list of names. Boston Celtics fans will recognize two names on that list: Kelly Olynyk, who will become a restricted free agent this summer, and Jonas Jerebko, who will hit unrestricted free agency.
This from the @OrlandoMagic war room… pic.twitter.com/HJsgaxm36E
— James Stewart ☝️ (@IAmJamesStewart) April 4, 2017
Olynyk and Jerebko are just two of many players listed here, so it’s unclear how seriously the Magic actually will pursue them this summer, if at all. Magic general manager Rob Hennigan also did some damage control Tuesday, telling the Orlando Sentinel the names written on the board were “not indicative” of the team’s plans and that the club was “simply listing options, including some of which other teams have inquired about.”
Still, it appears the cat’s out of the bag, and you can expect Orlando’s offseason moves to be scrutinized in light of this unfortunate leak.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
