Orlando Magic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Al-Farouq Aminu Undergoes Procedure On Right Knee

December 2nd, 2020 at 1:21pm CST by Luke Adams

Magic forward Al-Farouq Aminu has undergone a minor arthroscopic procedure to address the continued swelling in his troublesome right knee, the team announced today in a press release.

According to the Magic, Aminu’s return to the court will depend on how he responds to treatment and rehabilitation. However, the club says the procedure went as planned and will put the veteran on track to complete this final phase of his rehab.

Magic head coach Steve Clifford said earlier this week that Aminu hasn’t been cleared for contact and is still “a ways away” from returning — today’s update provides some additional context. The 30-year-old has been sidelined for virtually the entire calendar year, having undergone surgery on his right knee back in January to repair a torn meniscus.

Aminu was one of the first free agents to come off the board during the summer of 2019, agreeing to a three-year, $29MM deal with Orlando. He was coming off a solid season in Portland in which he averaged 9.4 PPG and 7.5 RPG on .433/.343/.867 shooting while playing strong defense. However, he was limited to just 18 games in his first season with the Magic and struggled in a part-time role before being sidelined by his knee injury. His shooting line dipping to an abysmal .291/.250/.655 in those 18 games.

The Magic are also currently without Jonathan Isaac, who will miss the entire season due to a torn ACL, and Mohamed Bamba, who is believed to still be dealing with the aftereffects of his bout with the coronavirus.

Aminu, Bamba Not Yet Cleared For Contact Work

December 1st, 2020 at 11:54am CST by Luke Adams

Magic head coach Steve Clifford told reporters today that Jonathan Isaac, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Mohamed Bamba haven’t been cleared for contact work when training camp begins, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Isaac is recovering from a torn ACL and is expected to miss the entire 2020/21 season, so his absence is unsurprising. Aminu and Bamba were unavailable for the Magic at the end of last season due to knee surgery recovery and coronavirus complications, respectively. It’s not clear if those same issues are keeping them sidelined this fall, but Clifford said today that both players are still “a ways away” from being 100%, per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links).

Examining Whether Magic Tend To Overvalue Players

November 29th, 2020 at 5:28pm CST by JD Shaw

Josh Robbins of The Athletic examines whether the Magic tend to overvalue their own players. Orlando finished with the eight-best record in the Eastern Conference at 33-40 last season, losing point guard D.J. Augustin to Milwaukee in free agency. The team retained Evan Fournier after he exercised his $17.15MM player option, however, with the 28-year-old averaging a career-high 18.5 points per game last season.

Southeast Notes: Adebayo, Bertans, Rondo, Mane

November 29th, 2020 at 11:45am CST by Arthur Hill

Heat president Pat Riley said signing Bam Adebayo to an extension was an easy decision, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. At age 23, Adebayo has already become one of the league’s best big men, averaging 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists last season while making his first All-Star appearance.

“One of the most important things a franchise can do is to make sure that your best, youngest, cornerstone players sign on the dotted line,” Riley said. “Getting Bam his extension was a no-brainer for us because we know he will be around for years to come. That’s great for the Heat, great for the fans and great for Bam.”

Adebayo will only receive a full super-max deal, paying him 30% of the salary cap, if he earns MVP honors, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic. That figure is 28.5% if he is a first-team All-NBA selection and 27.5% if he wins Defensive Player of the Year. If none of those things happen, Adebayo will be paid 25% of the cap. Those figures are confirmed by Chiang, who adds that Adebayo’s new contract doesn’t contain any player or team options (Twitter link).

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

Re-signing Davis Bertans gives the Wizards one sure thing on a roster filled with uncertainty, states Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. Bertans developed into one of the NBA’s most dangerous three-point shooters during his first season in Washington and was rewarded with a five-year, $80MM contract. “There’d been talk from (general manager Tommy Sheppard) and the Wizards that they wanted me to stay,” Bertans said. “But until it comes to free agency, you actually get the call that the team wants you, you can’t be sure. I was happy that it wasn’t just some talk from Tommy and the whole team, that they really, really wanted me to come back.”
Rajon Rondo‘s new contract with the Hawks includes a $750K incentive if he plays at least 33 games and the team reaches the playoffs, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
Karim Mane, who signed a two-way contract with the Magic on Friday, has similarities in his game to Victor Oladipo and Jrue Holiday, observes Josh Cohen of NBA.com. Mane is relentless on defense, excelling in traps, and is hard for defenders to stay in front of when he drives to the basket.

Magic Announce Five Free Agent Signings

November 27th, 2020 at 2:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic have officially announced five free agent signings ahead of the start of training camps next week. Here are the five newly-added players to Orlando’s roster:

Devin Cannady, G
Robert Franks, F
Jordan Bone, G — two-way contract (previously reported)
Karim Mane, G — two-way contract (previously reported)
Jon Teske, C (previously reported)

Bone and Mane project to fill the Magic’s two-way contract slots to start the season — you can read more about them and Teske in our previous stories on their contract agreements.

Cannady, who went undrafted out of Princeton in 2019, signed with Brooklyn last October, but was only on the roster for three days, allowing the Nets to claim his G League rights. He spent his rookie season with the Long Islands Nets, averaging 14.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 2.6 APG in 39 NBAGL games (30.9 MPG).

As for Franks, he also went undrafted last year – out of Washington State – and spent the season in the G League. The 23-year-old power forward started the 2019/20 campaign on a two-way contract with the Hornets, but never got into an NBA game and was waived in January. He put up 17.3 PPG and 6.5 RPG in 36 G League contests for the Greensboro Swarm and Stockton Kings.

Cannady, Franks, and Teske likely won’t make Orlando’s regular season roster, but appear poised to spending training camp with the club.

Wolves Rumors: Hernangomez, Edwards, Rubio, Beasley

November 27th, 2020 at 1:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves restricted free agent forward Juan Hernangomez initially sought an offer in excess of $10MM per year, sources tell Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Unwilling to meet that price right off the bat, the Wolves “essentially told” Hernangomez to prove he could get an offer from another club while they went looking for possible alternatives at power forward, writes Krawczynski.

Minnesota ended up reaching out to a number forwards in free agency, including Derrick Jones (as previously outlined), Paul Millsap, Jae Crowder, and JaMychal Green, and inquired on possible trades involving Magic forward Aaron Gordon, Rockets forward P.J. Tucker, and Cavaliers big man Larry Nance Jr., sources tell Krawczynski.

The Timberwolves didn’t have any luck with any of those potential targets, but held firm on their offer to Hernangomez, who mulled the possibility of accepting the one-year qualifying offer worth $4.64MM, per Krawczynski. Ultimately, the two sides came to an agreement on a three-year, $21MM deal that has a third-year team option.

Here’s more out of Minnesota:

The Timberwolves chose Anthony Edwards with the No. 1 pick last week because they believe he has the clearest path of any of this year’s draft-eligible prospects to becoming a multi-time All-Star, says Krawczysnki.
Sources tell The Athletic that the team’s acquisition of Ricky Rubio was partly motivated by seeing what the veteran point guard did for Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker at his previous stops and a belief that he’ll aid Edwards’ development.
The Knicks told Malik Beasley he’d be their Plan B in free agency if they couldn’t land Gordon Hayward, according to Krawczynski. Recognizing that New York could be a threat to put forth a troublesome offer sheet, the Wolves went in with an aggressive pitch on the opening night of free agency and secured a commitment from Beasley on the spot. Sources tell The Athletic that Beasley has appreciated the support he’s received from the franchise since running into off-court legal problems.
The Timberwolves officially announced Beasley’s new deal today. Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) has the year-by-year financial breakdown of that contract, which guarantees the swingman $43MM+ over three years.

Contract Details: Adams, Hernangomez, Bol, Bacon, McDermott

November 26th, 2020 at 11:04am CST by Luke Adams

After receiving a trade bonus worth $2MM as part of the deal that sent him from Oklahoma City to New Orleans, Pelicans center Steven Adams will have a new 7.5% trade kicker on his two-year extension with his new team, tweets Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. That kicker will give Adams a rare opportunity to potentially cash in on two trade bonuses between free agencies.

Meanwhile, Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports reports (via Twitter) that another new Pelicans center, Willy Hernangomez, will only have a partial guarantee on his new deal with the team. Hernangomez is assured of receiving at least $700K of his $1.74MM minimum salary for 2020/21, Smith notes.

Here are a few more notes on recently-signed contracts from around the NBA:

Both years on Bol Bol‘s two-year contract with the Nuggets are fully guaranteed, tweets Eric Pincus. Denver used a portion of its mid-level exception to complete the $4.2MM deal.
Dwayne Bacon‘s new two-year contract with the Magic is for the veteran’s minimum and will be non-guaranteed for 2021/22, tweets Keith Smith. If Bacon remains under contract for more than three days after 2021’s free agency moratorium ends, he’ll get that full guarantee on year two, Smith adds.
While most of the two-way contracts that have been signed by players in the last week are only for one year, Sean McDermott’s deal with the Grizzlies will cover two years, tweets Smith.

Magic Re-Sign James Ennis

November 25th, 2020 at 4:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

NOVEMBER 25: The Magic have officially re-signed Ennis, the team announced today in a press release. Orlando completed the signing using part of its mid-level exception for a salary of $3.3MM, tweets Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports.

NOVEMBER 20: The Magic are re-signing small forward James Ennis on a one-year contract, The Athletic’s Shams Charania tweets.

Orlando acquired Ennis from Philadelphia in a trade deadline deal in February. He started 18 of 20 regular-season games with the Magic, averaging 8.5 PPG, 4.8 RPG and 1.1 APG in 24.5 MPG.

Ennis has also played for Miami, New Orleans, Memphis, Houston and Detroit in his journeyman career. In 347 career appearances, he’s averaged 6.5 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 20.1 MPG. He’s a career 35.0% 3-point shooter.

Ennis had a player option worth $2.13MM but he declined it in order to test the free agent market. He wound up right back where he started and could be the team’s starting small forward, depending upon how the remainder of the team’s offseason plays out.

Southeast Notes: Bradley, Adebayo, Gallinari, Pasecniks, MCW

November 25th, 2020 at 8:57am CST by Luke Adams

Introduced on Tuesday as a newly-signed member of the Heat, guard Avery Bradley cited the oft-lauded “Heat culture” as one of the key reasons why he wanted to join the team, as Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald write.

“I always felt like if I ever got an an opportunity to play here, I would fit in perfect,” Bradley said. “Once the opportunity presented itself, I knew I would take advantage of it. I’m excited because I do feel like I’m a perfect fit. We all know what it means to be a Miami Heat player — the passion, the dedication it takes to be a part of this culture. I think our team is going to be really good. I’m excited to be part of Miami and part of a great culture like this. I felt wanted.”

Maurice Harkless, who also officially signed with Miami this week, said talking to former Portland teammate Meyers Leonard helped convince him to join the Heat.

“The big thing that Meyers said and he talked about all the time was just the people in the organization and how everyone carried themselves and how everyone came to work every day,” Harkless said. “It’s just what everybody else talks about, the culture. He really embraced it and he spoke highly of everything that goes on in this organization. Hearing that from him, it made my decision a lot easier.”

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

After reaching an agreement with the Heat on a maximum-salary extension on Tuesday, Bam Adebayo told reporters – including Chiang and Jackson – that he never really had a conversation with the team about waiting until next year to sign his new deal. “Me and (Heat president Pat Riley) met one on one, and we kind of talked through it,” Adebayo said. “We both thought it was the right decision.”
The third year on Danilo Gallinari‘s new $61.5MM contract with the Hawks will only be partially guaranteed, according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, who tweets that the forward will be assured of $5MM of his $21.4MM salary in that final year (2022/23).
The Wizards and big man Anzejs Pasecniks have agreed to push back his salary guarantee deadline from this week to February 1, reports ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Pasecniks, who currently has a $350K guarantee on his $1.5MM salary, may have been waived if Washington had been forced to make an immediate decision.
Michael Carter-Williams‘ new two-year deal with the Magic features two fully guaranteed seasons worth $3.3MM apiece, according to Marks (Twitter link).

Eastern Contract Details: Heat, Rondo, Harris, Clark, Raptors

November 24th, 2020 at 10:10am CST by Luke Adams

Although Maurice Harkless‘ one-year, $3.623MM deal is exactly the same amount as the bi-annual exception, the Heat completed the signing using a portion of their mid-level exception, according to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Avery Bradley received the remaining portion of the $9.258MM MLE, for a first-year salary of $5.635MM, Smith adds (via Twitter).

The Heat will still be hard-capped as a result of using the full mid-level exception, but they now retain their bi-annual exception to use either this season or next year, if they remain over the cap in 2021/22.

Smith (Twitter link) also passes along the exact details on Meyers Leonard‘s new contract with the Heat, which has a $9.4MM first-year salary and a team option for 2021/22 worth $10.152MM.

Here are a few more specific details on some of the new free agent contracts signed in the last couple days, via Smith unless otherwise indicated:

Rajon Rondo‘s two-year, $15MM deal with the Hawks has matching cap hits of $7.5MM this season and next year. It also includes $750K in annual bonuses – tied to games played and playoff appearances – that could increase the annual value to $8.25MM (Twitter link).
Joe Harris‘ new four-year contract with the Nets technically has a base value of $72MM, with $500K in annual bonuses tied to games played, playoff games played, and team performance (Twitter link).
The Magic used part of their mid-level exception to sign Gary Clark to a contract starting at $2MM. His $2.1MM second-year salary won’t become guaranteed until seven days after the 2021 moratorium (Twitter link).
The Raptors‘ deals for Aron Baynes, Chris Boucher, and DeAndre’ Bembry will all be non-guaranteed in year two rather than technically featuring team options, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. That means they’ll have to be waived next summer if Toronto doesn’t want to retain them for two years.