According to John Denton of Florida Today, Magic Forward Hedo Turkoglu rejected a 4 year, 35 million dollar contract extension. Magic President Bob Vander Weide spoke on the situation. “It’s going to be hard, but it’s not out of the question, and it’s certainly not out of our focus,” Vander Weide said of re-signing Turkoglu. “We didn’t do (the Carter trade) thinking automatically that Turk won’t be here. What you try to do in this league is collect assets, but occasionally you have to move those assets for something that’s a better fit. We still see Turk as an asset, [...]

Now that Vince Carter has a member of the Orlando Magic for a few days, the talk of this trade had died down. Hedo Turkoglu has officially announcing that he is opting out of the final year of a 6 year, $36 million dollar contract and is looking for a big pay day ($10 million + a season for several years). For now, even if Rich De Vos will go deep into the luxury tax to keep Turk, the assumption is that he will at least look around before making any move to sign anywhere. Right now, the Turk rumor [...]

It is complete vinsanity in Orlando, but Vince Carter wasn’t the only player that the Magic acquired in their trade with the New Jersey Nets. Obviously the big news is Vince Carter is coming back to Florida to play for his hometown Orlando Magic, but the acquisition of Forward Ryan Anderson should not be overlooked. He was not just simply a “throw in,” to balance out the trade. This is a player that both General Manager Otis Smith and Head CoachStan Van Gundy wanted on this team.
The Magic were extremely interested in Ryan Anderson during last year’s draft. Anderson was scooped up [...]

Didn’t we think it would be a fairly uneventful draft day for the Orlando Magic?
Guess not.
The Orlando Magic acquired Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson from the New Jersey Nets for Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston, and Tony Battie. Here is a link to Vince’s press conference from Thursday.
This begs the question for the Magic, was it worth it? Battie and Alston were trade bait. Everyone knew that, but what about promising rookie Courtney Lee? He had some major disappointments during the NBA Finals but overall, he was very impressive as a rookie. I’m going to miss Courtney Lee, but an eight-time [...]

Several sources including Chad Ford at ESPN.com are saying that a deal between the Orlando Magic and New Jersey Nets that would net the Magic Vince Carter is close to completion. Carter, 32, averaged 20.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 4.7 APG while playing in 80 games last season.The rumored deal would send Tony Battie, Rafer Alston, and Courtney Lee to New Jersey. PF Ryan Anderson, from Cal, would also be sent to Orlando in the trade. Anderson averaged 7.4 PPG and 4.7 RPG as a rookie last season. Several outlets including yahoo.com are now reporting that the deal is [...]

The FanSided.com Sports Network proudly presents our first ever network-wide live NBA Draft blog. That’s right; NBA bloggers from around the league will be checking in to discuss the 2009 NBA Draft and all the news and rumors that go along with it. If you want knowledgeable, real-time commentary on the entire draft, then this chat is for you. Thanks for joining us, and keep the comments and questions coming (but clean and respectful, please).
NBA 2009 Draft>

With one season left on Lebron’s contract, Cleveland is doing everything it can to try to get him to stay.  What would make Lebron happy, you ask?  Why, Shaquille O’Neal of course.  The Cavs unloaded Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic to Pheonix in exchange.  Looks like Cleveland is trying to match up better against Orlando for next years playoffs.
This wont be the only trade today.  The NBA Draft is tonight at 7.  You can follow it here.  There will be a live chat, come and join us.

Just a reminder, Magic C Dwight Howard will be making his television talk show debut tonight. He will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:35 tonight on NBC.

Here is our updated mock draft. It’s likely that Minnesota acquired another pick to move up for Ricky Rubio, but our mock doesn’t have projected trades.

#

Team

Player

P

School

1

LA Clippers

Blake Griffin

PF

Oklahoma

2

Memphis

Hasheem Thabeet

C

UConn

3

Oklahoma Cty

Ricky Rubio

PG

Spain

4

Sacramento

Jrue Holiday

PG/SG

UCLA

5

Minnesota

Stephen Curry

PG

Davidson

6

Minnesota

Jordan Hill

PF

Arizona

7

Golden St.

James Harden

SG

Arizona State

8

New York

Tyreke Evans

PG

Memphis

9

Toronto

DeMar DeRozan

SG

USC

10

Milwaukee

Johnny Flynn

PG

Syracuse

11

New Jersey

Gerald Henderson

SG/SF

Duke

12

Charlotte

Brandon Jennings

PG

Italy

13

Indiana

DeJuan Blair

PF

Pittsburgh

14

Phoenix

James Johnson

SF

Wake Forest

15

Detroit

Earl Clark

SF/PF

Louisville

16

Chicago

BJ Mullens

C

Ohio State

17

Philadelphia

Jeff Teague

PG

Wake Forest

18

*Minnesota

Terrance Williams

SG/SF

Louisville

19

Atlanta

Eric Maynor

PG

VCU

20

Utah

Tyler Hansbrough

PF

North Carolina

21

New Orleans

Wayne Ellington

SF

North Carolina

22

Dallas

Chase Budinger

SF

Arizona

23

*Sacramento

Omri Casspi

SF

Israel

24

Portland

DuJuan Summers

SF

Georgetown

25

*Oklahoma Cty

TY Lawson

PG

North Carolina

26

*Chicago

Sam Young

SF

Pittsburgh

27

*Memphis

Derrick Brown

SF

Xavier

28

*Minnesota

Austin Daye

SF/PF

Gonzaga

29

LA Lakers

Marcus Thornton

SG

LSU

30

Cleveland [...]

There has been a lot of discussion that the Magic want to trade into the first round of Thursday’s night draft, but a trade into the second round would be much more likely. PG and PF seem to be the biggest needs come draft. With Anthony Johnson and Rafer Alston being very upset during the finals, there’s a good chance that neither player with be brought back. PF could become a huge need if Hedo Turkoglu does indeed bolt from Orlando to Portland, Sacramento or one of his other rumored destinations. Here’s a look at some of the guards in [...]