To their credit, the Orlando Magic still have Aaron Gordon, Mario Hezonja, Elfrid Payton and Evan Fournier. It’s the rest that has been confusing.

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First the Magic traded 23-year-old silky scorer Tobias Harris to the Pistons for nothing (well, for half-seasons of Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova) back in February. Then they traded veteran forward Channing Frye for a future second-round NBA Draft pick. (Note: They also gave away promising 22-year-old forward Maurice Harkless in July 2015 for nothing.) They wanted salary cap space for this summer. Remember that for later.

Still, the Magic finished 35-47, had a young roster and had shown some growth from the previous season — 10 more wins! — under first-year head coach Scott Skiles. So, of course, Skiles promptly quit. That’s fine, though, because they hired Frank Vogel after the Pacers fired him, and Vogel is a good coach who probably will develop those young playes in a more forward-thinking manner than Skiles.

This summer, though, has been a disaster. The Magic traded Ilyasova; Victor Oladipo, a 24-year-old shooting guard who arguably was their best player; and the No. 11 pick in the NBA Draft for Serge Ibaka. Now, Ibaka is a good player who could find himself now that he’s removed from the Thunder’s two-man drill, but the logic behind using two prized assets to acquire a player who hits free agency next season is short-sighted.

Then the cap space came into play. And things got weird.

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The Magic traded a future second-rounder to the Pistons for Jodie Meeks, a 28-year-old guard who missed all but three games last season and does nothing but shoot and is owed $6.5 million next season. Then they renounced their rights to Andrew Nicholson, a 26-year-old who had shown plenty of progress and whose matching right the team could have held onto for little cost.

When free agency opened Friday morning, the surprising first strike from the Magic came in the form of D.J. Augustin on a four-year, $29 million contract. Augustin also does little more than shoot well and perform the same role as C.J. Watson, who already is on the Magic roster at $5 million next season.

Then they landed Jeff Green. For $15 million. At least it was only one year.

Ibaka, Meeks, Augustin and Green are all players in their late 20s who have been solid role players in their careers. They all have had injury or health concerns. They all replace players in their early 20s. They are not the types of players who turn a 35-victory team into a playoff team, even in the Eastern Conference.

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That’s before we even get into how weird the fits are. Gordon and Green are both combo forwards whose games seem to fit better at power forward in the modern NBA. Yet they both might be forced to small forward to accomodate Ibaka and Nikola Vucevic, the post-scoring center who, at 25, was the anchor and veteran of the young core in the past. Hezonja’s path to starting seems blocked, unless he moves to shooting guard and gets in the way of Fournier, whom they just paid $85 million over five years to keep.

The Magic managed to improve their shooting dramatically and potentially still hurt their roster balance, which is hard to do in an era when everyone is firing up 3-pointers at all times.

These moves are an abrupt departure from general manager Rob Hennigan’s past philosophy. The youngest head basketball decision-maker in the NBA had a Sam Hinkie-like commitment to stockpiling assets in his first few years on the job, but murmurs began to creep out that Magic CEO Alex Martins was taking a larger role in decision-making because ownership was growing impatient.

The Magic entered this free agency period spouting off that they could bring in two max-contract players in one offseason. They wanted Al Horford. They wanted to take a stab at Bradley Beal. They were hoping to at least get the kind of sitdown with Kevin Durant that the Suns received from LaMarcus Aldridge last year. No dice. It’s not 2000 anymore.

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The Magic inadvertently are showing the cost of impatience amid a rebuild. These are the types of moves Celtics president Danny Ainge has so wisely avoided even as his greater ambitions have been shot down over and over again. It’s not even fair to say the Magic sold low on their best assets. Oladipo and Harris surely could have fetched greater value had they broadened their targets. Half the league was intrigued by Harkless’ potential.

Instead, the Magic sold poorly. They enter next season with a young and exciting team that is not nearly as young and exciting as it was a year ago. They may be slightly better in the short term. They will have salary cap space again next year. They may make a trade or two that pay dividends. Or they may have cost themselves a ready-made rotation for the future.

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Correction: This article initially misstated Mario Hezonja’s nationality. He is Croatian.