30 Team Association: Raptors acquire Harrington from Magic - mmcnab91's Dynasty

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30 Team Association: Raptors acquire Harrington from Magic

Posted on March 5, 2013 at 01:08 AM.

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2/8/13�With Bargnani lost for season, Magic send Harrington to Raptors

TORONTO�The Toronto Raptors wasted no time in finding a replacement for injured power forward Andrea Bargnani.

Less than 24 hours after learning Bargnani would miss the rest of the season, Toronto swung a trade for Orlando Magic power forward Al Harrington, sending rookie forward Quincy Acy and small forward Linas Kleiza to the Magic for Harrington and point guard E'Twaun Moore.

Bargnani tore the medial collateral ligament in his right knee six minutes into Wednesday's game against the Boston Celtics. Once the diagnosis was confirmed by an MRI Thursday, Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo moved quickly to replace Bargnani, who was averaging a career-high 22.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game through 29 games with Toronto.

Colangelo said Harrington will assume starting duties in Toronto, who are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a 28-22 record. Harrington had a similar stat line to Bargnani's in Orlando, averaging 19.3 points and 6.5 rebounds a game. Just three games separate six teams battling for the final two spots in the conference.

In what essentially amounted to a salary dump for the league-worst Magic, Toronto now finds itself saddled with three long-term contracts at power forward. Toronto will owe Harrington approximately $21 million over the next three seasons, and all three of the Raptors' power forwards (Bargnani, Harrington, and Amir Johnson) are signed to three-year deals.

Acy, Toronto's second-round pick in 2012, had played in just 14 of Toronto's 49 games before the trade. Acy's rookie-minimum contract expires after the 2013 season. A Raptors front office source said Acy was included in the trade to help offset Moore's salary, who Orlando offered to Toronto as part of a plan to shed contracts before the free agency period.

Kleiza found himself behind Landry Fields and Mickael Pietrus on head coach Dwane Casey's depth chart, averaging just over six minutes a game for Toronto; Kleiza's last game with double-digit minutes was in early December. The former first-round pick's $4.6 million contract expires after the season; a Magic front office source said the Magic would not try to re-sign Kleiza.

Moore, like Acy, failed to find minutes with his team, with point guard arguably the strongest position on the Magic. Moore averaged just over four minutes a game for the Magic stuck behind Jameer Nelson and Ish Smith. The Raptors front office source said Moore, in his second year in the league, was viewed by the team as a long-term prospect. That source also said Moore would likely take veteran John Lucas's spot on the roster next season. Both Moore and Lucas are in the final years of their contracts this season.

Bargnani was just the second player in the league to suffer a season-ending injury; Devin Harris suffered a torn MCL in his right knee that ended his season in November.