And so it both begins and (largely) ends, not with a bang but a whimper.
If you’ll excuse my mangling of Eliot’s desolate poem, such a statement would seem to be a pretty apt explanation of what the Magic achieved in the first 48 hours of free agency this year: a series of largely incidental moves that will leave the needle untouched, and that collectively do little to satiate the core of a fanbase agitating for something more. Even though an impact transaction (again) failed to materialize, let’s take some time to unpack what did go down, with a focus on what it means for both the coming season and beyond.