The Magic’s rebuilding process hasn’t exactly resulted in a Sixers-esque bottoming out, but it has probably moved a bit slower than the franchise would have liked. After winning just 20 games in 2012/13, the team has steadily increased its win total in each of the three seasons since then, but still only managed a 35-47 mark this past year.
With some young cornerstones in place and others nearing the end of their rookie contracts, it will be interesting to see how Orlando approaches the offseason. The club only has about $36MM in guaranteed salary on its books and has expressed a willingness to be active in free agency, and adding two or three solid players to this core could result in a postseason berth. But after such a lengthy rebuilding process, the Magic shouldn’t rush the final steps — exercising patience and exploring possible trades involving their higher-paid players may postpone Orlando’s return to playoff contention by another year or two, but it might also make more sense than abruptly shifting to win-now mode.
See how Orlando’s cap situation looks for 2016/17 as Hoops Rumors continues its offseason salary cap digest series.
Guaranteed Salary
- Nikola Vucevic ($11,750,000)
- Victor Oladipo ($6,552,960)
- C.J. Watson ($5,000,000)
- Aaron Gordon ($4,351,320)
- Mario Hezonja ($3,909,840)
- Elfrid Payton ($2,613,600)
- Shabazz Napier ($1,350,120)
- Ersan Ilyasova ($400,000) — Partial guarantee; non-guaranteed portion listed below1
- Total: $35,927,840
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Ersan Ilyasova ($8,000,000) — Partial guarantee; guaranteed portion listed above1
- Devyn Marble ($980,431)
- Total: $8,980,431
Restricted Free Agents (Qualifying Offers/Cap Holds)
- Evan Fournier ($4,433,683/$5,720,513)
- Andrew Nicholson ($3,394,726/$5,951,483)
- Dewayne Dedmon ($1,215,696/$1,215,696)
- Totals: $9,044,105/$12,887,692
Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)
- Brandon Jennings ($12,516,746)
- Jason Smith ($5,160,000)
- Total: $17,676,746
Other Cap Holds
- No. 11 pick ($2,033,500)
- Fran Vazquez ($2,033,500)
- Total: $4,067,000
Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000
Footnotes:
- Ilyasova’s full $8,400,000 salary will become guaranteed if he’s still on the roster on July 1st.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Continuing to compare the Magic to the Sixers, why does Philly take so much heat for having so many bigs, when Orlando has CJ Watson, Shabazz Napier, Elfrid Payton and Shabazz Napier on guaranteed deals?
Noel for Oladipo?
Because Philly’s bigs can’t mesh together well. Of Embiid, Saric, Noel, and Okafor…Saric is the only one with some range. Embiid is an unknown since he hasn’t played a game yet, Okafor can’t defend, and Noel isn’t as good as Okafor offensively. Philly gets heat because they drafted big men with their top picks in three straight drafts.