OCTOBER 16: Carter has signed the extension, according to a team press release (Twitter link).
“Even in his relatively short time in the league, Wendell has proven to be a true professional,” team president Jeff Weltman said. “We are very happy that he will continue to build on his promising career here in Orlando.”
OCTOBER 15: The Magic have agreed to a four-year, $50MM contract extension for center Wendell Carter Jr., Anthony Fields of Vanguard Sports Group tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, the deal will be fully guaranteed.
Carter, 22, was selected by the Bulls with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft. Although he showed promise during his two-and-a-half years in Chicago, Carter battled injuries and didn’t substantially increase his rookie-year production in his second and third seasons.
The big man was dealt to Orlando at the 2021 trade deadline in the blockbuster deal that sent Nikola Vucevic in Chicago. He took over the Magic’s starting center job down the stretch and averaged 11.7 PPG, 8.8 RPG, and 1.6 APG in 22 games (26.5 MPG).
It wasn’t clear this offseason whether the Magic were ready to commit long-term to Carter or if they wanted to see more from him in 2021/22. It seems the team has answered that question, taking the same route with Carter than it did a year ago with Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz, who both signed multiyear rookie scale extensions that kept them off the restricted free agent market in 2021.
Isaac got about $20MM more than Carter did on his own four-year extension. Fultz’s deal was also worth $50MM, but covers just three years. The closest recent comparable for Carter’s four-year, $50MM deal – which will go into effect in 2022/23 – is the extension that Robert Williams signed with the Celtics earlier this offseason. Williams will make $48MM over four years, with $6MM more available in incentives.
There are now 17 players still eligible for rookie scale extensions in advance of Monday’s deadline, as Carter joins Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Michael Porter Jr., and Williams in this year’s class.
Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Collin Sexton, and Jaren Jackson Jr. are among the remaining extension candidates worth watching in the coming days. Carter’s fellow Magic center, Mohamed Bamba, is also among those eligible for a rookie extension, but is considered extremely unlikely to sign one.
Get that $ boy!!! ATL guys takin over the league rn
ATL guys are taking over the league right now, just look at Luka.
Luka is from Ljubljana, what does he have to do with this?
He was with Atlanta for about 30 minutes, wasn’t he?
Apparently you misunderstood the original comment. I’ll break it down. Wendell Carter Jr just got a big contract. He’s from Atlanta, GA. There are many guys from Atlanta doing big things in the league. Maybe you’ve heard of a few of them, maybe not. Luka Doncic isn’t one of those guys
georgia currently is the number 1 state at producing nfl players at 24% also, iowa’s 5th at 16%.
saa-lute!
“Which State Produces the Most NBA Players? There are more California-born players in the NBA than any other state by a wide margin. 52 players currently on NBA rosters were born there. Additionally, 18 Californians are active on WNBA rosters, which is more than any other state.”
NY, NJ area is same basketball pool, pretty much. All real NJ talent also competed in NY. The Mecca……
link to bleacherreport.com
Georgia is actually ranked 12th all time. I’m sure Atlanta is big reason why.
Looks like they made their choice between Wendell and Bomba.
Bamba on the Trade block now?
I can’t envision them letting Bamba leave for no return in Free Agency.
Magic have got to be the worst set up in the league right now, both in present and in the future. They have long term deals with their three, but none of the three are really proven to even be NBA players, let alone someone to build a team around. Suggs could be good, but will anyone know if he is stuck behind Fultz?
Just a disaster of a franchise.
They have no choice but to rebuild around Suggs and hope for the best.
You’d think they have no choice, but they keep giving big extensions to unproven or injured high draft picks.
Other than Gultz the extensions aren’t big
I can’t wait until I have enough money that $50 million over 4 years is not considered “big.” Or $70 million over 4 years. You must have a wonderful life…or the other option which I prefer not to get into.
Fate was on the side of Suggs being in Toronto, but Ujiri said, •I am in control here• and he took Barnes who cannot shoot.
Lucky for ORL, they screw up if left alone.
Barnes ain’t no Simmons and he’s showing to be the better than Suggs. Maybe you should watch some Raptor games before spitting out that Barnes can’t shoot.
47% FG and 0% 3P in the preseason is not scaring anyone. His defenders will be laying off him and giving him the mid range and the 3.
Trash player. Way overpaid.
Definitely not a trash player..He might be injury prone, but when he does play he’s a solid role player with a good bit of potential to grow into more…
That was a trash comment.
No (apparent) reason for this extension. The player was effectively controlled (without a long term team commitment) prior to it.
What’s the big deal, 10 million is 1/11th the salary cap and by the end of the maybe 1/15.
Good move. Never really understood why Bulls moved away from him. I guess Vucevic was more right now, for Zach. I like Magic talent. But they do need to all play together to see what you got. Bamba has been mismanaged imo. He should of been in G-league for first two yrs. A lot of teams do this to young players. Then wonder why they are not progressing. Always better to be playing and learning. Than to be sitting and taking notes. Bamba could go somewhere else and flourishe. Suggs hasn’t really looked good in preseason.
I like big teams. I like Carter at the 4 more. You put him next to KAT. Minny becomes a contender. Always believe if you have a rim protector. Then you have a scoring 4. If you have a scoring center. Then you have Defensive 4. That is chemistry and Team building.