The Orlando Magic appears to be stockpiling New York City talent.
The Magic added New York natives Tobias Harris and Doron Lamb Thursday when they dealt J.J. Redick to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Harris Tweeted: “Going to miss the wonderful city of Milwaukee and its amazing fans. Looking forward to the new journey that awaits in Orlando!!”
Orlando already has former St. John’s star Maurice Harkless, a Queens native. The 6-8 Harris is a Long Island native who spent one year at Tennessee before he was chosen with the 19th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Bobcats.
The 6-4 Lamb is a Queens native who was Kentucky’s second-leading scorer on its NCAA championship team last season. He was taken in the second round of the draft, and averaged 3.4 points and 0.9 assists in 23 games with the Bucks.
“We had a lot of talks where we could have gotten a first-round pick, but we felt with Tobias being a first-round pick (in 2011) and Doron being someone we value as a first-round talent, we felt that was satisfactory for us,” Magic GM Rob Hennigan said, according to the Magic’s Website.
“But if you are playing role reversal and you are the other team, you would have some concern that there are no assurances that J.J. will stay with that team. So that risk was such that teams wanted to mitigate it by not including a first (draft pick).’’
Harris averaged 4.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in 28 games (14 starts) this season for Milwaukee.
“We feel that Tobias and Mo will complement each other,’’ Hennigan said of Harkless. “We feel that Mo is someone who we continue to see developing on the defensive end of the floor as well as the offensive end. And the same can be said for said for Tobias. We don’t see a lot of overlap because of the type of workers that they are.’’
In another trade involving a New York native, former Brooklyn Lincoln star Sebastian Telfair was dealt by the Phoenix Suns to the Toronto Raptors.
Photos: NBA.com
