Los Angeles Clippers earned a modest hindsight edge over Orlando Magic in the 2016-07-15 exchange, with Devyn Marble; 2020 second-round pick (#32-Vernon Carey Jr.) providing the better overall return.
Los Angeles sent C.J. Wilcox and cash to Orlando on July 15, 2016, for Devyn Marble and a 2020 second-round pick. Wilcox had been the No. 28 pick in 2014 but had appeared in only 44 games over two Clippers seasons. Los Angeles waived Marble the same day, making the future second the real target. The trade also created a $1.2 million trade exception for the Clippers.
The Magic were taking a low-cost look at a shooter who had made 39.1 percent of his threes for the Clippers in 2015-16 and had produced in the D-League. It did not turn into a rotation piece. Wilcox appeared in 22 games for Orlando, averaged 1.0 point in 4.9 minutes and shot 20.0 percent from three. Orlando declined his 2017-18 option and waived him in April 2017, ending the experiment after one season.
The pick was more valuable than its eventual No. 32 slot suggests because Los Angeles used it before the 2020 draft. In 2018, the Clippers sent the rights to Miles Bridges plus two future second-round picks to Charlotte for the rights to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The 2020 second acquired from Orlando was one of those two picks. It later became Vernon Carey Jr. for Charlotte, but the Clippers had already converted its value into part of the package that moved them from No. 12 to No. 11.
Marble never played for Los Angeles, and Wilcox provided only 22 games for Orlando, so the player swap itself was negligible. The difference is the pick. Los Angeles turned a player outside its rotation into a future second that later helped facilitate the Gilgeous-Alexander draft-night move. Orlando received cash and a prospect audition, but neither created durable basketball value. The canonical B for the Clippers and C+ for the Magic appropriately keeps the win modest while recognizing the pick's later utility.
Clippers Win — LA Clippers B, Orlando C+. The Clippers waived Devyn Marble immediately, but the 2020 second-round pick they received became useful currency in the 2018 trade that brought Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's draft rights to Los Angeles. Orlando got only 22 games from C.J. Wilcox before waiving him, plus cash considerations. The pick ultimately became No. 32 and Vernon Carey Jr. after reaching Charlotte, but its direct value to the Clippers had already been realized in the Gilgeous-Alexander move.