It’s been quite the eventful off-season for the Orlando Magic. After being defeated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals, that’s when it all began to happen. On draft night, the Orlando Magic acquired Vince Carter from the New Jersey Nets. Whether they intended for him to be Turkoglu’s replacement or just another weapon in their arsenal was unknown at the time, but when it became clear that Turkoglu was not returning to the Magic it all became clear. At first, it appeared as if Hedo was headed far West to Portland to join the Blazers, in fact, he even verbally committed but pulled out of his committment to join the Raptors instead. Eventually, a four-way trade happened and atleast the Magic received an $8 Million trade exception for Hedo. Although Carter is good, Hedo’s size made him a tough guard and the Magic will miss that.

It also appeared as if Marcin Gortat was on his way to the Dallas Mavericks, but yesterday the Orlando Magic matched his offer and he is returning to Orlando. According to Gortat’s agent, Gortat was looking forward to playing with the Mavericks and he is very disappointed about his return to Orlando. Either way, his role of a back-up did earn him a nice contract and perhaps a sign-and-trade will be discussed and maybe Gortat will get his wishes of playing in Dallas after all.