Reacting to the Magic's Addition of Malaki Branham

The Orlando Magic have had to make marginal moves this offseason due to the restrictions imposed on them as a team exceeding the first apron. No big splash could occur this summer, so the front office had to go bargain hunting.

A reunion with Nikola Vucevic and the deals to bring back Jonathan Isaac and Jevon Carter were what the Magic could afford to do when free agency opened, and in late August, they took a chance on another player who fits the definition of low risk, high reward: Malaki Branham.

In the latest episode of the Full Court Magic Podcast, I talked about this signing and what Branham brings to the table:

"The Magic did make a small signing. It wasn't anything that's going to move mountains, but an interesting player that's still very young, Malaki Branham, a four-year player now in the NBA, product of Ohio State, you know, 23 years old, and he's kind of this, you know, raw kind of product. You know, maybe we haven't really seen the best of what he can be given that, you know, he was in a good situation for development when he was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs and spent a couple seasons there, but he was surrounded by other young players, you know, and never really, I guess you could say, got the kind of time and dedication solely placed on him because realistically, also, he was never a number one option or a super, super high-caliber player coming out of college, you know? 

He was a first round pick, 20th pick overall in the 2022 NBA draft, and so there is some pedigree there, a level of talent that shows that he can belong on this stage, but to what extent he can play and play productively, especially now in what will be his third new system with the Magic after he spent last season with the Washington Wizards, is yet to be seen.

You know, Branham is this player who's not a super high-level scorer, right, and he has been shaky at times. Like, part of the reason that he has not seen as much time on the floor as he could have has been because of inconsistencies in his game, and that has affected his playing time over the last two seasons. He's experienced a precipitous drop-off in playing time after logging 75 games with the Spurs during the 2023-24 season, and you know, as I said, since then, it's just been a drop-off.

47 games in '24-’25, and then last season only 28 games with Washington. No starts in each of the last two years after logging more than 25 starts in his first two seasons, so he's a pretty solid 3-point shooter. We haven't seen, you know, a ton of it. It's very small sample sizes with him, but he has shown that he can be a perimeter threat, and so, you know, this is a low-risk, potentially high-reward move for the Magic in signing Branham, and you know, we'll see if he makes it through training camp and makes the team, and I think the best-case scenario for him is being a solid addition to the bench. 

Worst-case scenario is he ends up on a G League roster or cut, but you know, that's kind of where the Magic are right now. They have to go on, you know, for these low-risk, high-reward moves because of their standing as a first-apron-restricted team that is flirting with the second apron.