Cole Anthony Says His Departure From Magic is Bittersweet

After spending the first five seasons of his NBA career with the Orlando Magic, Cole Anthony says his trade to the Milwaukee Bucks is bittersweet. 

The Magic spent years in lottery purgatory, but things started to change over the last two seasons as all their lottery picks developed into strong NBA players. Orlando packaged one of those lottery picks, Cole Anthony, along with Kentavious Pope-Caldwell, in a deal to acquire star wing Desmond Bane. The Grizzlies would waive Anthony, and he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Anthony told the Orlando Sentinel of being dealt from the team he spent his entire career with:

I remember my agent called me; I remember talking with Jeff, and I was just like, ‘Dang, is this real?' I remember that whole week; it was just crazy. I've been here five years, haven't played for another team, was drafted here, so it's something for me that definitely is bittersweet, and I'm going to miss it."

The son of Greg Anthony, who spent more than a decade as a point guard in the NBA, Cole Anthony joined a long list of star New York City point guards while playing at Archbishop Molloy in Queens. A consensus five-star prospect, he would go on to play for the University of North Carolina and was drafted 15th overall by the Magic in 2020. 

An effective point guard who shoots better than 35% from three, Anthony averaged a little over 18 minutes a night for the Magic last year. He notched 9.4 points with 2.9 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game.