Report: Magic making trade calls on Tyus Jones

The Magic are doing what deadline-adjacent teams do when the math starts to matter. They’re making calls.

According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, Orlando has reached out to multiple teams to gauge interest in veteran point guard Tyus Jones, with the hope of bringing back second-round draft compensation.

Jones, 29, signed a one-year, $7 million deal with the Magic last summer and hasn’t found much traction since. He’s averaging 3.2 points and 2.4 assists in 16.5 minutes across 40 games, including eight starts, while shooting 35.3 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from three. That’s a sharp dip for a player long valued around the league for steadiness and ball security.

Still, this looks less like a basketball indictment and more like a balance-sheet maneuver. Orlando is currently operating about $5.6 million above the luxury tax line, and moving Jones would be a clean way to duck below it before the deadline.

That matters, especially with Paolo Banchero’s max rookie extension looming in 2026-27 and the repeater clock always lurking in the background.

Second-round picks aren’t flashy, but they count. And for a team that doesn’t need Jones but does need flexibility, this is the kind of call that makes sense.