Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz recently named one ambitious trade target for every NBA team this season. For the Portland Trail Blazers, that target was Orlando Magic wing Franz Wagner.
"The Portland Trail Blazers are in need of an offensive alpha. No one topped 20 points per game on this roster in 2024-25, with leading scorer Anfernee Simons (19.3 points) traded to the Boston Celtics for Jrue Holiday this past summer. If the Orlando Magic don't like the long-term fit between Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero, the former could thrive as a No. 1 option in Portland. He averaged a career-high 24.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists last season. Portland is still establishing and evaluating their foundational pieces. Wagner would give them the go-to scorer that they desperately need," Swartz writes.
Franz Wagner would be the Blazers' missing piece
After the addition of Desmond Bane, the Magic should be considered dark horses to come out of the Eastern Conference this season. An already weak conference has unfortunately been plagued with injuries before the season has even started, leaving it wide open for the taking.
The Magic addressed their biggest roster weakness of shooting with the Bane trade, and should take yet another step forward with the continued ascension of stars Wagner and Paolo Banchero. Still, as Swartz notes, this is a situation that teams around the league, including the Blazers, should be monitoring.
Orlando paid a steep price to land Bane, who is a much better fit alongside Banchero than Wagner is due to his floor spacing ability. If things go south this season, Wagner could be the odd man out, in terms of players the Magic don't necessarily deem to be untouchable. If that is the case, Blazers general manager Joe Cronin should absolutely be working the phones.
Wagner is coming off a career year at just 24 years old; he'd fit in perfectly alongside the timelines of Portland's building blocks, Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara. Additionally, at 6-foot-10, Wagner has the type of length and positional versatility that Cronin and Chauncey Billups value. It would not only give them a much-needed go-to option, but it would also make Portland impossible to match up against, as Billups would have plenty of flexibility to ensure his lineups have some advantage.
The one concern here is that Portland is very similarly constructed to Orlando as a team in dire need of shooting. Still, Avdija and Camara are much more efficient shooters than Banchero and only continue to get better in that department. They'd be able to find a way to make that trio work.
Ultimately, it depends on what Orlando would want in return for its rising star. Portland does have Orlando's 2028 first-round pick as a result of the draft-day trade they made with the Memphis Grizzlies. That could be a starting point in negotiations, but it would likely require a hefty package to get Orlando to sign off.
Still, crazier things have happened in the ever-evolving NBA; what may seem like a pipe dream now could suddenly become much more realistic come February's trade deadline, depending on how the new-look Magic start off their season.