Desmond Bane Is Fitting In Perfectly With The Magic After Getting Ejected For A Dirty Play While Also Spiking The Basketball On Onyeka Okongwu's Head

David Jensen. Getty Images.

The Orlando Magic shocked the NBA world when they decided to pull the trigger on a massive trade with the Grizzlies to bring in Desmond Bane for a couple of rotation players and a total of 4 first round picks. You get that type of offer for a non-All Star, and if you're the Grizzlies that's a no-brainer flip. Given the Magic were one of the worst shooting teams on the face of this planet, going after a career 40% shooter on high volume made sense. Many called Bane the Magic's missing piece and what was going to vault them into contention in the East.

How are things going? Well, production-wise for Bane…..not great

Bane was around a 20 ppg guy as a Grizzlie, and so far to start his Magic career is around 15 a game on 41/25% splits. That's not exactly what I imagine the Magic or their fans are looking for given the money Bane is owed and the collateral it took to bring him in. The whole point was that he in theory, was going to go a long way in helping solve their outside shooting problem, but so far that's still TBD.

Team-wise, things also haven't been great for the Magic in that department either. They're off to a 3-4 start, the offense is still kind of gross, the defense has dropped off a little bit, and overall for a team many thought would be a top 3 seed in the East, it's clear they still have some things to figure out.

One way I will say Bane has fit right in when it comes to his new home is by doing some shady shit on the basketball court that is both extremely reckless and pretty fucked up. We've seen this type of thing year in and year out from the Magic in their recent playoff runs, so I can't say this was all that surprising

For starters, it's extremely fucked up to be messing with an airborne player like that. There's really no excuse for it. You can break a wrist, or god forbid, something worse. I don't want to sound soft or whatever, but there's just no need for it. I can understand trying to make a play for the ball and shit can happen. That's basketball. But that play? You're not trying to make a play on the ball. You're deliberately doing something that could result in injuring another player. That's not toughness, that's pathetic. You're down 14 in a regular season game in early November, what are you doing? So he's an asshole for that act alone. 

Then the volleyball spike with the basketball on his head? On one hand, I'm willing to give him credit for the ingenuity. That was some quick thinking, and I'd be lying if for a moment I wasn't impressed not only with the idea, but the execution. I may think you're a dumbass for doing such a thing, but I can also give credit where credit is due. 

Unfortunately, once you pull a move like that, it's an easy automatic ejection. 

I dunno, maybe instead of trying to injure your opponent, you simply play better? It's not the Hawks' fault that perhaps the Magic blew their load on a player that ultimately isn't going to move the needle, who they still owe $39M, $42M, and $44M after this season ($36M). It's still early, but the early returns have certainly not been good.

But hey, congrats on the first ejection of the NBA season! Sure the Magic got their ass whooped by the Hawks, but whatever! At least Bane got to show how tough he is and how physical the Magic are which is all we're heard about from that fanbase for the last few years. In reality, they're just a dirty team that tends to try and pull moves like this when they know they can't win.