ORLANDO, FL - OCTOBER 30: Jonathon Simmons #17 of the Orlando Magic shoots the ball against the Sacramento Kings on October 30, 2018 at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)

Steve Clifford calls out his players as Orlando Magic must make their last stand by Philip Rossman-Reich

There is one week ahead of the NBA trade deadline. The Orlando Magic’s slip down the standings may finally have moved the Magic into the sellers category.

The Orlando Magic have always had a strange position when it came to the NBA trade deadline.

With the team mired in a losing streak — four games overall and seven of the last eight games — the Playoffs have gotten further away from them. The team is 20-31 and 4.5 games out of the final Playoff spot.

The chances of the Magic climbing out of the hole they have put themselves in is looking bleaker despite the sixth easiest remaining schedule in the league, according to Tankathon. It would appear the team’s hopes of making a surprise Playoff run are coming up short.

And so a week before the trade deadline, it seems the Magic are finally ready to make a decision about their future. It appears the Magic are seriously ready to consider selling and turning some of those win-now players into long-term assets.

Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reports the Magic appear willing to become sellers on the trade market, looking for new homes for perhaps Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier most of all. Those key veteran players do not figure to be part of the team’s future as the Magic look to build more around Aaron Gordon, Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba.

Likely the team will look for deals involving Jonathon Simmons or Terrence Ross. Ross will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Jonathon Simmons has only $1 million guaranteed for next year. That makes both of them at least quasi-expiring deals.

Orlando has, according to several reports, preferred to trade Jonathon Simmons over Terrence Ross when teams try to reach out to them about Ross. With the season the two players are having, who could blame them for that preference.

It may be getting to a point where that changed. That is the reality of feeling the Playoff dreams are nearing an end.

The question, of course, is whether the Magic will get the kind of players they want in a deal.

The Magic have made it pretty clear they still want to push for the Playoffs. After a six-year absence, the opportunity to make the Playoffs is enticing for the franchise. And they believe it is vital for their young players to get experience playing meaningful games.

But the Magic are essentially still rebuilding too. The team is trying to shift toward its younger players and is likely going to move away from veteran players slowly. That explains why the team is probably looking to deal Evan Fournier. And why there is still uncertainty over re-signing Nikola Vucevic this summer despite his All-Star credentials.

Magic general manager John Hammond has made it publicly clear the team is looking for long-term assets in return. They would only give up an expiring contract or someone in the rotation if it netted them a long-term asset.

“Right now, I sure wouldn’t consider us a seller,” Hammond told Magic Drive Time last week. “We like the guys on our roster. We have good people. But if there is a decision that can be made to improve our team. Of course, we’re going to do that just like any other team.”

Hammond would go on to say the team will probably look to make a move to improve the team in the long run if they make a move at all. He added they would love to make the Playoffs, but the project is to make the Playoffs in the future and for years to come.

He said Orlando is not likely going to make a short-term fix. Any deal the Magic make is going to help the long-term future of the team.

Orlando does not seem like it is a team in any rush to make a move for the sake of change. President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman has said he will make the right move. Not just any move.

Despite the long run out of the Playoffs and the need to flip over the roster, the franchise does not seem like it is in any rush to make major changes unless they make sense.

The Magic seem content to let Vucevic or Ross walk in free agency if they do not come back on favorable terms or net an asset the Magic are interested in retaining for the long term.

Will that posture help the team get a deal done in the next week? That remains a mystery.

But the Magic seem to understand what their positioning is related to the Playoffs.