Magic Waive Jason Maxiell

9:30pm: Orlando has officially waived Maxiell, the team announced via press release.

8:53am: The Magic are waiving Jason Maxiell, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). There doesn’t appear to be an official announcement of yet, but presumably one is on the way. Orlando was reportedly trying to find a trade partner to take him before his non-guaranteed contract was to have become fully guaranteed for $2.5MM on July 10th, and apparently the Magic have yet to find a team willing to take on the power forward.

Maxiell’s 3.2 points per game last season were his fewest since he was a rookie as his minutes were cut from 24.8 his final season with the Pistons to 14.4 in his first year with Orlando after he signed with the club last summer. The arrival of Aaron Gordon, the No. 4 overall pick in the draft, figured to further impinge upon the playing time of the 31-year-old Maxiell, who doesn’t quite fit the mold of the franchise’s youth-focused rebuilding approach.

Still, it seems somewhat odd that the Magic apparently have no use for Maxiell at $2.5MM after agreeing earlier this week to sign Ben Gordon to a two-year, $9MM contract. The Andy Miller client is just a year removed from having started 71 games for the Pistons, and he seems in line to recoup most, if not all, of the salary he would have made with Orlando. The timing of the move, nearly a week before his contract guarantee date, gives Maxiell more of a chance to find a new deal on the market.