Why every NBA team is watching the Desmond Bane trade fallout

The NBA world has been waiting for a blockbuster trade to materialize for the past several weeks.

Just not the blockbuster trade that happened Sunday.

There were many reasons that the Desmond Bane trade from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Orlando Magic on Father's Day morning was such a big surprise, but the biggest one was that it wasn't a deal involving Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant.

That was far from the only one, however. Here's how league insiders are reacting to this early, fascinating deal, one that could have massive ripple effects across the league.

Why did Orlando make this trade?

It had become one of the best trivia questions in NBA circles: Who is the last player the Magic actively acquired in a trade?

The answer -- at least until Sunday's deal -- had remarkably been former No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz, whom Orlando landed at the 2019 trade deadline in a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers for reserve forward Jonathon Simmons and a protected first-round pick (that eventually became Tyrese Maxey).

But after years of inactivity, Orlando emphatically pushed in its chips, clearly viewing Bane as the missing piece that can lift this franchise to the top of the East again. It's been 15 years since the Magic have even won a playoff series. In talking with sources around the league, opinions were mixed on whether adding Bane will change that.

Some regard Bane as a perfect fit -- an off guard who can defend and is a career 41% 3-point shooter. The Magic shot 31.7% from deep this season, by far the worst clip in the NBA.

"He'll be a good fit," one assistant coach told ESPN. "There's not a lot of guys that you would want to grab as your third option that can do it to the level that he can do it."

Others questioned the hefty price tag, both in terms of the contract (Bane is owed $163 million over the next four years) and the draft capital to acquire him.

"[The Grizzlies] did that extension before the new second apron rules kicked in and they were looking at that deal and liking it less," one scout said. "Really good guy, good player, but [I] never thought of him as a max guy."

Several teams inquired about Bane, sources said, but none as aggressively as Orlando.

It's easy to see why. Bane should slot in perfectly in the backcourt alongside Jalen Suggs, one of the best defenders in the league, and adds shooting and shot creation to a roster, featuring Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, that desperately needed both.

Why did Memphis?

Grizzlies general manager Zack Kleiman was blunt six weeks ago when he addressed his team's contending window after his team was swept out of the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"I don't think we can look back at this series and say, 'Oh we're close!' Kleiman told reporters in Memphis during his end-of-season press conference.

"We're not."

By trading away Bane, long part of the core in Memphis alongside Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., Kleiman is acting on those words.

That work, however, is not going to include dealing either Morant or Jackson, sources said. The team has spent the past several months clearing salary cap space to complete a renegotiation and extension of Jackson's contract this offseason, preventing him from hitting free agency in 2026. The belief is that an extension will get done, sources said. But the Bane trade gives Memphis an avenue to give Jackson even more on that deal and lock him in long-term.

And Memphis handing the team over to now-full-time head coach Tuomas Ilsalo -- who wants to play a fast-paced system with tons of pick-and-roll and 3-point shooting -- is designed to maximize what Morant can do.

The Grizzlies believe Jaylen Wells, who finished third in Rookie of the Year voting this past year as a second-round pick, can be a long-term starter on the wing, sources said. And among the haul of picks they got back in the trade, the juiciest one they received was next year's lesser of the Phoenix and Washington -- a pick that's very likely to be a lottery pick, and could easily wind up inside the top 10, or better.

Now, the Grizzlies believe they can go in a variety of directions as they look to improve their team, and continue to try to contend long-term in the West. But that required taking an immediate step back to hopefully take two -- or more -- steps forward in the future.

How does this impact the Kevin Durant trade saga?

In speaking with several sources Sunday in the wake of the Bane deal, the universal belief is that any draft packages going to Phoenix in a Durant deal will likely dwarf the haul of draft picks coming to Memphis for Bane, who hasn't yet made an All-Star team.

"Everyone has to throw their prior precedents and baselines out," said one executive, who referred back to not only the Bane trade but the five firsts the New York Knicks traded for Mikal Bridges last year as having nothing to do with how to properly value Durant.

"Those deals don't mean Durant is worth 12 firsts now," they said.

But what, exactly, is Durant worth? It's the question people around the league continue to ask as the saga continues.

As ESPN's Shams Charania reported Saturday night, Durant is willing to sign a contract extension with three teams: the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat. However, sources around the league are still talking about the Minnesota Timberwolves as a potential landing spot for Durant.

What does seem clear is that the package isn't going to be anywhere near the haul that the Brooklyn Nets received for Durant two-and-a-half years ago, a deal consummated within the first 24 hours owner Mat Ishbia took control of the Suns. How Ishbia will react to that will be telling, and could determine how this process plays out.

Orlando sees an opportunity in a new conference hierarchy. How does this deal impact the rest of the East?

This trade is just the latest ripple effect of the devastating Achilles tendon tear suffered by Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks.

There is every reason to hope and believe Tatum will return to 100% after the injury. The doctor who did the surgery -- Dr. Martin O'Malley from New York's renowned Hospital for Special Surgery -- also repaired Durant's Achilles tear in 2019. But, in the short-term, it all but certainly has removed Boston as the dominant force in the East for the 2025-26 season, after being in that position for most of the past several years.

That has created an opening for teams to strike -- and Orlando was the first one to do so.

"For them, they got to give themselves a chance," one executive said. "They have gone to the playoffs two years in a row and had a first-round exit, and they look around and they've got a young group that's trying to figure out how to take the next step.

"In theory, in the middle of the year you would have thought Indiana was in their group, too, in that you wouldn't have thought they could get over the top and the two best teams were clearly Cleveland and Boston.

"But with Boston not being there next year, it's going to be fascinating to see how much of a win-now approach is going to take place because every team is going to think they can do what Indiana just did."

This move could cause more teams to expedite their plans this summer. We already saw the Knicks fire Tom Thibodeau after losing in the conference finals. The Celtics have plenty of uncertainty about their roster. The Pistons, after an encouraging playoff breakthrough, could create cap space to pursue an impact player.

The Philadelphia 76ers, if they can get their team on the court, believe they can compete. The 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers will return their core. And the Giannis Antetokounmpo question still lingers for Milwaukee.

"It's become way more open-ended, and owners are going to see it that way," the executive said. "But the Magic could still lose in the first round. So can the Knicks. So can all of these teams."

Why the draft could be the most important day of the offseason

One of the four picks coming to Memphis in the Bane trade was the 16th pick in this month's NBA draft. With a Durant trade likely to happen before this year's draft, sources said, expect some 2025 draft capital to likely be included, as well.

In a summer in which there is basically no cap space -- the rebuilding Brooklyn Nets, per ESPN's Bobby Marks, are the only team projected to have real space to work with -- and a limited free agent class on top of it, several sources said the busiest day of the offseason is going to be June 25, the first round of the draft.

It is the one date on the calendar when all of these teams have the ability to maneuver their rosters and improve -- and possibly for the only time, given the constraints on the market in the weeks afterward. Between teams trying to shed money or just reshuffle their rosters after an eventful few months around the league, there's no shortage of teams searching for a splash. "It just feels like there is going to be more activity than even normally is," an executive said.

Coupled with a draft featuring two clear prospects at the top -- Cooper Flagg at No. 1 and Dylan Harper at No. 2 -- and a deep pool of strong prospects, it should make for a wildly entertaining night inside Brooklyn's Barclays Center.