National Basketball Association

NBA Rumors: Serge Ibaka Sees Long-Term Future With The Orlando Magic

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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NBA Rumors: After being traded to the Orlando Magic, Serge Ibaka hopes to sign long-term with the franchise after this season

After seeing his role slowly dwindle and dwindle over the last couple of seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, it was pretty evident that it was time for a change – for both Serge Ibaka and the Thunder.

Even though he never demanded a trade publicly, Ibaka found himself on the track block on draft night. It eventually led to the Magic and Thunder making a swap, featuring a Victor Oladipo for Serge Ibaka trade.

Now, as he enters a contract season, Ibaka is making it clear that he doesn’t want his stay with the Orlando Magic to be a short one. He sees a long future in Orlando. And that sentiment appears to be mutual.

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[via Orlando Sentinel]

“I’m looking to stay here to play forever — for [as] many, many years as possible,” Serge Ibaka said during the Magic’s media day.

“I’m not really worried about my contract year or my long-term,” Ibaka said.

…

“We certainly traded for Serge thinking long-term, and that’s our expectation,” Magic general manager Rob Hennigan said.

In a perfect world, of course Ibaka and the Magic would have a long and prosperous future together. However, the NBA isn’t a perfect world.

If it were, Kevin Garnett would’ve won a championship with the Minnesota Timberwolves (instead of the Boston Celtics) and Dwyane Wade and LeBron James would’ve never left Miami and Cleveland respectively.

It’s not, though.

Still, if Ibaka has a bounce back season and finds a nice stretch-4 niche that the Magic haven’t had since the likes of Rashard Lewis and Ryan Anderson parted ways with the franchise, then perhaps he could find a long term home in Orlando.

With that said, if the Orlando Magic simply can’t take the next step as a team this season, specifically talking about Elfrid Payton, Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Mario Hezonja, then there’s really not much of a point in re-signing a pricey Ibaka – because he will cost money. A lot of it.

Though, the fact that Ibaka wants Orlando to be a long-term partnership is good news.

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