One former NBA player is of the belief that it would be in the best interest of the Golden State Warriors to trade Chris Paul to the Orlando Magic for Jonathan Isaac.
There are reports that Orlando is interested in Chris Paul or Kyle Lowry before Thursday’s Trade Deadline@Scalabrine likes it for the Warriors if they can get Jonathan Isaac in the deal pic.twitter.com/gtAdzLxN2u
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) February 5, 2024
“Let’s say Chris Paul to Orlando, right?” Brian Scalabrine said. “Would you be interested in Jonathan Isaac if you’re the Warriors? Yeah — I think I would do that if I was the Warriors. Jonathan Isaac has had some injuries, but when he plays, I see him all the time guarding Jayson Tatum, and he’s a beast.”
As Scalabrine mentioned, Isaac has a lengthy injury history. He missed the entirety of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons due to ACL problems and logged just 11 games for the Magic a season ago.
But on the bright side, he has stayed relatively healthy so far during the 2023-24 regular season, at least by his standards. Isaac has appeared in 32 games for the Magic and is averaging 6.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 75.9 percent from the free-throw line.
He put together a dominant defensive showing against the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 31. Isaac came up with four blocks in just 18 minutes of playing time for the Magic, who beat the Spurs on the road by 10 points.
The Warriors seem like they could do some good by shaking up their roster before the trade deadline. Golden State is outside of the Western Conference playoff picture, as the team currently sits as the No. 12 seed in the conference with a 21-25 record. The Warriors have also lost six out of their last 10 games and are fresh off a loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Feb. 3.
Golden State lost to the Hawks in overtime despite a fantastic performance from Warriors star guard Stephen Curry. Curry dropped 60 points on 22-of-38 shooting from the floor and 10-of-23 from deep in 41 minutes of action. He also chipped in six rebounds, four assists and one block in the losing effort.
Considering the Warriors have had trouble getting stops this season, the team might be wise to pursue a trade for Isaac, who is arguably one of the better defensive players in the league today. It might also make sense for the Warriors to trade Paul for Isaac, as the guard is 38 years old and has his best basketball behind him.
