Orlando Magic want to trade for Steve Nash or Monta Ellis?

The Phoenix Suns don’t want to trade Steve Nash in fact they might want to resign him. With that said that doesn’t mean that all the Steve Nash trade rumors will go away.

There is no question that one of the downfalls of the Orlando Magic is point guard play. So it shouldn’t come to a surprise that the Magic would like to Nash via trade. This from HoopsWorld:

The Orlando Magic has made offers for Nash in the past and sources close to the situation say that they’ll attempt to acquire the 16-year veteran in the next two weeks. Dwight Howard has asked the front office to pursue Nash and sources close to Howard believe he won’t exercise his early termination option if the team is able to acquire Nash and re-sign him this summer.

Magic star center Dwight Howard has made it no secret that he wants out of Orlando. He has said publicity that he wants to play with better players especially a better point guard.

Jameer Nelson the Magic’s point guard is averaging 9.6 points per game and 5.4 assists per game on the season. This is by far Nelson’s worst season since his rookie season in 04-05. Many have said that Howard’s comments have hurt Nelson play this season.

So far this season in 31 games Nash is averaging 13.9 points and 10.9 assists. The assists numbers are good enough for the best in the NBA. Nash might be getting up there in age but he still has a lot left. He probably has 2 to 3 more good years left in him.

I think this would be a great deal for the Magic. Problem is I don’t know if the Magic have the pieces to send back to the Suns. Can you imagine Nash playing with Howard? Nash’s assist numbers would only go up with playing with Howard. Howard’s numbers would also go up big time. He has never played with a point guard like Nash before. He has never had a passing point guard.

If Nash got traded to the Magic and he resigned with the Magic. Would this be enough for Howard to stay in Orlando? This might be part of the Magic front office’s thinking here.

Besides Nash the Magic are also going after Monta Ellis of the Golden State Warriors. From ESPN:

The Orlando Magic have reached out to the Golden State Warriors about trading for Monta Ellis, according to league sources.No deal is imminent, but Orlando is trying to add Ellis to its roster in hopes of appeasing Dwight Howard. Rather than aggressively pursuing a trade of Howard before the March 15 deadline, the Magic are desperately seeking a move that will convince Howard he can stay in Orlando.

While I like Nash to the Magic I don’t like Ellis to the Magic. Ellis is a gunner . He takes a ton of shots. This would probably take a lot of touches away from Howard.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next two weeks. Will the Magic get help for Howard?

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Tags: Dwight Howard, Monta Ellis, Orlando Magic, Steve Nash