Could Gilbert Arenas Land in Orlando?

Ned Dishman/NBAE/Getty Images

Marc Stein of ESPN.com thinks that Orlando could be a potential destination for Gilbert Arenas.

The Magic are also dealing with their own issues these days, struggling to live up to lofty expectations after last season’s trip to the NBA Finals and a busy offseason of roster reshaping that gave Orlando – even after parting ways with Hedo Turkoglu – what many observers consider to be the deepest team in the league. There would inevitably be questions about the Magic’s ability to make room for another ball-dominating big name when they’re still struggling to blend newcomer Vince Carter when All-Star returnees Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson.

Yet I’m convinced, based on everything I’ve heard this week on the subject, that Arenas will get a legit look from Orlando when the time comes.

Giving Arenas his resurrection platform, given all of the other personalities they’re trying to mold into a team these days, might prove in the final analysis to be too much for the Magic to take on. But who’s to say that the Magic won’t be embarking on another roster shake-up in the summer of 2010 if they don’t play a lot better in the season’s second half than we’ve seen so far?

It makes sense that this rumor would pop up. Otis Smith was part of a team that drafted Arenas (Golden State). Smith is also considered a friend of Arenas and is expected to stand by him even after he pled guilty to felony gun charges.

Don’t get me wrong, Arenas is a very good player. He was averaging 22.6 points per game and 7.6 assists per game this season and has averaged 22.7 points per game over his nine-year career.

For starters, Arenas signed a six-year deal worth between $125 and $127 million in July of 2008. After this season, he would still have four of those years remaining on his deal.

Arenas has also had major injury issues. He played just two games in 2008-09 and only 13 in 2007-08 due to a a knee injury.

With all of these contributing factors, it seems very unlikely that this move would happen, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)