The wounds of losing center Dwight Howard in a trade are still very fresh in the minds of Orlando Magic fans. Former NBA head coach and current ESPN NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy sat down for an interview with Mike Lupica on ESPN New York to talk about the NBA's situation after the lockout when the subject of the Magic fan base came up.
Van Gundy talked about what he thought was going through the minds of the Magic fanbase in the immediate aftermath of this trade and he specifically brought up two other players who rose to stardom with Orlando, but soon left for greener pastures.
We've had three stars in our time, in Orlando, we had Shaquille O'Neal who went free agency and left. We had Tracy McGrady and he forced his way out and I was the beneficiary of that. Then third you had Dwight Howard who forced his way out. You have to ask yourself, is it worth it?
It is a good question to ask, mainly because even though the Magic obtained several draft picks in this trade, none of them are presumably going to be very high draft picks. This being the third time that a high profile player has left the Magic, Van Gundy expressed a lot of sympathy for Magic fans.
Orlando, when they have gotten their best players, whatever reason, it hasn't worked out and I really, really feel for their fan base. It's a sad day for the Orlando Magic fan base.
The Magic are certainly trying to move forward now that Howard is gone from the team. But if they ever get another high profile player like Howard again, can they manage to hold onto the player?
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