In his first season with the San Antonio Spurs, Chris Paul proved that, even at his advanced age of 40, he still has what it takes to be a quality starting point guard in the NBA. As a result, this may entice him to lace them up for at least one more year, and, following a recent chain of events, his ideal next landing spot may have all but been determined.
On Sunday, ESPN's Shams Charania was first to break the news that the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies had agreed to terms on a blockbuster trade that will send Desmond Bane out to the Sunshine State.
The move now pairs the 26-year-old sharpshooter with impressive young ballers in Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Jalen Suggs who, in 2024-25, guided Orlando to a 41-41 record and their second playoff appearance in five years.
With this latest blockbuster, it's evident that the Magic are adopting a win-now type of mentality and have subsequently formulated one of the more impressive collections of young talent the Eastern Conference has to offer.
However, even with the addition of Bane, Orlando still finds itself with a glaring hole at the starting one spot that they've been trying to plug for years.
Because of this, this summer, a union between Paul and the Magic could prove to be a perfect situation for both parties involved.
Desmond Bane deal makes Chris Paul bolting Spurs for Magic no-brainer
Considering their payroll is only bound to skyrocket with the addition of Bane's $36.7 million salary for next season, the expectation should be that the Magic will wind up scouring the bargain bin during this summer's free agency period for lower-cost talents to have potentially come in and serve as their quarterback of the court.
Paul will be available on the open market this offseason, and, though he may have once been a max-level star, in these twilight years of his career, his contract costs have drastically decreased. This past campaign, he played on a one-year, $10.4 million salary with the Spurs.
Approaching his 21 season in the association, there's a strong probability that his asking price could now dip even lower.
For a chance to not only serve as a club's primary point guard but to be one on a title-hopeful team no less, perhaps the taxpayer's MLE may be enough to entice the future Hall of Famer to sign with Orlando.
As made evident by the Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal-led Suns from over the last few seasons, even a team stockpiled with elite individual scoring weapons needs a proper one guard to ensure things run smoothly.
Adding Chris Paul could be a way for Orlando to avoid falling for the same mistake Phoenix did.
While playing in all 82 games with the Spurs, the veteran found himself dishing out the sixth-most assists in the league with 605 in total (7.4 per game) while averaging 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.3 steals on 37.7 percent shooting from deep along the way.
His pass-first mentality and legendary set-up skills could prove to be exactly what this Magic team that just finished this past season ranking second-worst in field goal attempts per game (85.8), 11-worst in open shots taken (2,123), and dead-last in assists per game (23.0) desperately needs to help unlock their full potential.
For the last several months, the writing has seemingly been on the wall that Paul will likely be departing from San Antonio this offseason. Now, with the Desmond Bane trade, his ideal next landing spot seems to be crystal clear.