Wendell Carter Jr. has signed a three-year, $58.7MM contract extension with the Magic, Shams Charania of ESPN tweets. The Magic confirmed the signing in a press release.
Carter is entering his third year of a four-year, $50MM contract that was frontloaded. The new deal will keep him under contract through the 2028/29 season.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Carter will make $18.1MM in 2026/27, $19.6MM in 2027/28 and $21MM in 2028/29 (Twitter link). It’s the most money Carter could have received for a three-year extension — Carter’s 2025/26 salary is below the Estimated Average Player Salary, so he was eligible for up to 140% of the average, Keith Smith of Spotrac notes (Twitter link). Given the rising salary cap, Carter’s salary is a reasonable cost for a starting center.
The Magic now have both of their top big men under long-term deals. Franz Wagner signed a max five-year extension in July. By signing the extension at this time, Carter will be ineligible to be traded this season, Smith adds in another tweet.
This is Carter’s seventh NBA season but he’s still just 25. He’s averaged 12.5 points and 8.5 points in 27.6 minutes through 315 regular-season games. Carter has suffered a variety of injuries throughout his career — he’s never appeared in more than 62 games.
Carter played 55 games last season (48 starts), averaging 11.0 points and 6.9 rebounds in 25.6 minutes. He made his playoff debut last season, averaging 7.6 points and 6.3 rebounds in 26.4 minutes over seven games.
Carter underwent surgery on his left hand after last season. The preventive procedure involved inserting a plate at the site of a fracture on Carter’s hand. He suffered the fracture in early November and had it surgically repaired at the time. He also missed some games last season due to right knee inflammation.
Nice
Knicks shoulda traded for him instead of Kitty KAT