- Magic fans are irritated by the team’s lack of transparency regarding injury updates on Markelle Fultz, Jonathan Isaac and Chuma Okeke, Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes. Fultz and Isaac are still rehabbing from knee injuries, while Okeke has been out since training camp with a bone bruise in his hip. No timetable has been announced for any of those players.
Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2021 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s offseason moves and look ahead to what the 2021/22 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Orlando Magic.
Free agent signings:
Note: Exhibit 9 and 10 deals aren’t included here.
- Robin Lopez: One year, $5MM. Signed using non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Moritz Wagner: Two years, minimum salary. Second year non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- E’Twaun Moore: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Ignas Brazdeikis: Two-way contract.
Trades:
- Acquired the Pistons’ 2026 second-round pick and cash from the Clippers in exchange for the draft rights to Jason Preston (No. 33 pick).
Draft picks:
- 1-5: Jalen Suggs
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $29,955,705).
- 1-8: Franz Wagner
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $22,781,932).
Contract extensions:
- Wendell Carter Jr.: Four years, $50,000,000. Starts in 2022/23.
Departing players:
Other offseason news:
- Hired Jamahl Mosley as head coach to replace Steve Clifford.
- Hired Nate Tibbetts, Jesse Mermuys, Dale Osbourne, Bret Brielmaier, and Lionel Chalmers as assistant coaches; lost assistants Tyrone Corbin, Pat Delany, Steve Hetzel, and Michael Batiste.
- Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz continue to recover from ACL tears and are sidelined to start the season.
- Michael Carter-Williams is recovering from ankle surgery and is sidelined to start the season.
- Chuma Okeke is dealing with a bone bruise in his hip and is sidelined to start the season.
Salary cap situation:
- Remained over the cap and below the tax line.
- Carrying approximately $113.7MM in salary.
- $4,536,000 of non-taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($5MM used on Robin Lopez).
- Full bi-annual exception ($3,732,000) still available.
- Three traded player exception available, including one worth $17.2MM.
The Magic’s offseason:
A whirlwind 2021 trade deadline paved the way for the Magic to have a relatively quiet offseason. Back in March, Orlando decided to launch a full-scale rebuild and finalized three separate trades that sent Nikola Vucevic to Chicago, Aaron Gordon to Denver, and Evan Fournier to Boston.
That type of roster overhaul is more common during the summer than midway through the season, but the Magic had been hit hard by injuries and had lost 27 of 35 games leading up to the deadline after winning six of eight to open the year. They weren’t going to make the playoffs and they were in a position to be one of the league’s few major in-season sellers, so they struck early.
That decisiveness allowed the Magic to perhaps extract more for Vucevic than they would’ve if they’d taken a more patient approach. When the Bulls sent their top-four protected 2021 first-rounder to Orlando in the package for the standout center, they were presumably counting on grabbing one of the last couple playoff spots in the East and sacrificing a pick in the 15-16 range. Instead, Chicago struggled down the stretch and had to convey the No. 8 overall pick to the Magic.
The Magic’s draft luck continued when, despite having their own pick land at No. 5 in the lottery, they were able to land one of the consensus top-four prospects in the 2021 class. Toronto surprised observers by snagging Scottie Barnes at No. 4, allowing Jalen Suggs to slip to Orlando.
Whether Suggs will turn out to be a better pro than Barnes remains to be seen, but the former Gonzaga guard was the higher-ranked player on most experts’ – and, by all accounts, most teams’ – draft boards. The Magic likely could’ve extracted a significant price from a club interested in trading up for Suggs, so staying put and selecting him – even with point guards Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony already locked up for the next three years – is a good indication they’re high on his potential.
Orlando used its second lottery pick (courtesy of the Bulls) to select Michigan’s Franz Wagner, a talented young forward who looks capable of becoming an impact player on both sides of the ball. The idea of pairing Wagner with Jonathan Isaac – once Isaac gets healthy – and letting the two young forwards loose on the defensive end is a tantalizing one.
While adding Suggs and Wagner were the Magic’s major moves of the summer, the team also decided to invest long-term in Wendell Carter after acquiring the former Bulls big man in the Vucevic trade. The price Orlando paid – $50MM over four years – suggests the team is confident the former Duke standout can continue to improve after putting up pretty similar numbers in each of his first three seasons.
Even if Carter plateaus, the contract will never be an albatross. Its descending structure means it will be worth just $10.85MM by its final year in 2025/26, making it a good trade chip if WCJ is no longer in Orlando’s plans by then.
The Magic were relatively quiet on the trade market and made just a couple free agent additions, bringing in steady veterans Robin Lopez and E’Twaun Moore on inexpensive one-year contracts. Lopez, in particular, is a heady player who will be able to impart plenty of knowledge on young big men Carter and Mohamed Bamba over the course of the season.
Orlando’s offseason was ultimately defined by the rookies it added, both on and off the court — besides drafting Suggs and Wagner, the team hired first-time head coach Jamahl Mosley to replace Steve Clifford. Mosley gained a strong reputation for player development during his time in Dallas under Rick Carlisle and will be tasked with guiding a young Magic team through the toughest stage of its rebuild. The losses will come early and often for Mosley, but if guys like Suggs, Wagner, Fultz, and Isaac are improving under his tutelage, he’ll be doing his job.
The Magic’s season:
The Eastern Conference will be competitive this season, with 12 or 13 teams eyeing a playoff berth or at least a play-in spot. The odds of the Magic joining that group are slim — they and the Pistons are good bets to occupy the 14th and 15th spots in the conference, in some order.
Still, there are some intriguing building blocks here, especially once the team gets healthier. Suggs, Wagner, Carter, Fultz, Isaac, Bamba, Anthony, Chuma Okeke, and R.J. Hampton aren’t all future stars, but there’s plenty of untapped upside in that group, and the Magic have the ability to add a few more assets to their collection by trading Terrence Ross at some point in the coming months.
There’s a long way to go before the Magic will be talking about contending again, but the rebuild has taken a good first step or two this year.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac was used in the creation of this post.
Former Warriors guard Mychal Mulder has signed a two-way contract with the Magic, the team announced (via Twitter).
The 27-year-old played 60 games for Golden State last season, averaging 5.6 points and 1.0 rebounds with a .397 3PT% in 12.8 minutes per night. He remained with the Warriors through the preseason, but was waived in the team’s final round of cuts.
Mulder spent three seasons in the G League after going undrafted out of Kentucky in 2017. He signed a 10-day contract with Golden State in February of 2020 and played well enough to earn a multiyear deal.
The signing gives the Magic a full roster, with 15 standard contracts and both two-way slots filled. They had been the only team in the league with a two-way opening, so all 60 spots are now occupied.
- Chuma Okeke‘s return from a bone bruise in his hip remains uncertain, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets. Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said of Okeke, “There is no real timetable for him. We’re going to see how he responds to contact and to his rehab.” Okeke did not play in the preseason and has yet to make his season debut.
After spending six-and-a-half years in Orlando, Knicks guard Evan Fournier knew he was on the way out last season when he heard the Magic sent Nikola Vucevic to Chicago, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Orlando purged most of its veteran talent at the trade deadline as the team committed fully to rebuilding. Within a few hours, the Magic finalized deals involving Vucevic, Fournier and Aaron Gordon.
“Once they pulled the plug with Vuc — because Vuc got traded first to Chicago — I remember it was the one year where I felt, OK, this might happen for real now,’’ Fournier said. ‘When I saw Vuc, I was with my wife at home like, ‘Yeah, honey, we out,’ because obviously you trade Vuc. Then it was myself, then it was Gordon.’’
Fournier, who was dealt to the Celtics before signing with New York over the summer, is glad to be in different surroundings as he prepares to face his former team for the second straight game. With a roster full of young players, the Magic may be looking at several years before they return to the playoffs.
“That’s a rebuild, so a rebuild takes time,’’ Fournier said. “It is definitely gonna take them time to figure it out. It’s not my problem anymore.’’
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Rival teams view Hawks forward Cam Reddish as a strong trade candidate, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Atlanta made Reddish available at the March deadline and again heading into the draft, but couldn’t find the right deal, Scotto states. One executive told Scotto that teams would be willing to offer a protected lottery pick for Reddish.
- Executives around the league expect the Magic to eventually trade Terrence Ross to a playoff team, Scotto adds in the same piece. Orlando was seeking a first-round pick in exchange for the veteran swingman last season, but teams may not be willing to meet that price. “He’ll be moved,” an unidentified executive said. “They were trying to move him at the draft. They wanted to put him in a place where he could win. I think he’s worth a couple of second-round picks.”
- Kyle Kuzma, who was part of the Wizards‘ return for sending Russell Westbrook to the Lakers, believes the deal has made Washington a better team, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “I mean, you gotta do that trade 10 out of 10 times,” Kuzma said. “If you have an opportunity to get five good basketball players for one, it makes sense. Granted, (Westbrook is) obviously a Hall-of-Fame player and everything. He’s an unbelievable player, don’t take that wrong. But especially for a team like Washington, if you look at the track record from the past couple of years, it hasn’t necessarily been enough ballplayers here. … It’s smart, you have to do it if you’re a GM.”
With the NBA regular season underway, most teams are taking full advantage of their ability to carry up to 17 players, including 15 on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals. As our roster counts page shows, 23 of the league’s 30 teams have full 17-man squads.
Most of the teams not carrying a 15th player on a standard contract are either over the luxury tax line or are bumping up against it, and have opted for financial savings for now. Those clubs are all decent bets to add a 15th man by season’s end, but likely won’t be in any rush to do so unless they face depth issues.
Here are the teams that are currently carrying just 14 players on their standard rosters:
- Miami Heat
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Phoenix Suns
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Utah Jazz
Of these six teams, three – the Bucks, Blazers, and Jazz – project to be taxpayers, while the Heat and Wolves would go over the tax line if they were to add a 15th man. The Suns are the only team in this group with no pressing tax concerns.
Meanwhile, there are two teams with an open two-way contract slot:
- Orlando Magic
- Phoenix Suns
The Magic’s inclusion here is a little surprising. They’re a rebuilding team with their own G League affiliate — it seems as if they’d benefit from taking a shot on a young prospect with that spot, and perhaps they will soon.
It’s less surprising that Phoenix is on this list. The Suns sold their G League affiliate last year, so they don’t have their own NBAGL team where they could send two-way players. Phoenix’s lone two-way player, Chandler Hutchison, will essentially serve as the team’s de facto 15th man for the time being.
The Magic are being realistic about their expectations as they prepare for a season that will likely end with another trip to the draft lottery, writes Chris Hays of The Orlando Sentinel. With the league’s third-youngest roster at an average age of 24.7 years, Orlando will focus on developing its young talent rather than wins and losses.
“I don’t really set benchmark goals. I always believe that if you play the right way and play together, then the results will kind if speak for themselves,” said president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman. “Obviously, we’ve recalibrated what we’re doing right now, so with this group I do expect us to play hard. This is about growth. This is about the development of our players. It’s about a lot of young guys learning what it takes to win in the NBA.”
Weltman has upended the Magic’s roster since the March trade deadline, shipping out most of the team’s veterans in exchange for young players and draft assets. Mohamed Bamba, who is about to start his fourth season, is now second on the team in most games played for Orlando, and admitted surprise at becoming a veteran leader so quickly.
“I just try to do my part,” he said. “I don’t try to do too much, I don’t over-extend myself and when the younger guys come to me for anything, I try do the best I can to help.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Daniel Gafford‘s three-year extension shows the value the Wizards place on their young center, observes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The team also has Thomas Bryant, the starting center before being injured last year, along with Montrezl Harrell, who was acquired in an offseason trade, but management decided to make a long-term commitment to Gafford, who is now the team’s only player signed through the 2025/26 season.
- Wizards forward Rui Hachimura has cleared the league’s health and safety protocols and has returned to the team, Hughes tweets. However, he won’t travel with his teammates to Toronto for Wednesday’s season opener, according to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post (Twitter link). Hachimura will remain in Washington and will continue individual workouts with assistant coaches.
- Hawks big man John Collins is relieved not to have to think about his contract situation this season after signing a five-year, $125MM deal with the team over the summer, he tells Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. “It’s like getting a full, restful night of sleep. That’s what it felt like to sign the paper,” Collins said. “That relief of stress and pressure just felt like I was fully awake now. It put me in a better mood. It took me a while to understand the stress but in the moment, it’s just pure bliss.”
- Miles Bridges didn’t work out a contract extension with the Hornets by Monday’s deadline, but he tells Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer that he loves playing in the city. “I’m just going to continue to get better,” he said, “and hopefully I can stay with the Hornets my whole career.”
Now that all 30 regular season rosters have been set, 10 teams project to be taxpayers, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The Warriors, Nets, Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, Jazz, Sixers, Celtics, Trail Blazers, and Raptors are currently over the luxury tax threshold.
Some of those teams are in better shape than others. While the Warriors ($159.9MM) and Nets ($110.4MM) project to have nine-figure tax bills, the Raptors are barely into tax territory and should be able to sneak below the line, perhaps by waiving one of their two players who have partially guaranteed deals.
Besides Golden State and Brooklyn, the Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, and Jazz all have projected tax bills exceeding $33MM, according to Marks. The Sixers, Celtics, Blazers, and Raptors would owe less than $8MM each based on the current numbers.
Of course, these numbers can and will change over the course of the season as teams make roster moves, since tax bills are determined by the team’s year-end salary. For now though, the 20 non-taxpayers project to receive year-end payments of $12.7MM, Marks notes.
Here are a few more cap- and contract-related notes from around the NBA:
- Grayson Allen‘s two-year extension with the Bucks features a base value of $17MM ($8.5MM per year) in guaranteed money, plus incentives, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The exact value of the incentives is $1.275MM annually, Hoops Rumors has learned. Currently, those are a mix of likely and unlikely bonuses, but since the deal doesn’t begin until 2022/23, those likely/unlikely designations will ultimately be based on what happens this coming season.
- Wendell Carter Jr.‘s four-year extension with the Magic has a descending structure, Scotto tweets. It starts at $14.15MM in year one and dips to $10.85MM by year four. The deal is fully guaranteed, with no options.
- In addition to having a team option on its fourth year, Landry Shamet‘s extension with the Suns has a non-guaranteed salary in year three, Hoops Rumors has learned. The last two years both have June 29 trigger dates, in 2024 and 2025. Only $19.75MM of Shamet’s $42.5MM deal is fully guaranteed for now.
- Daniel Gafford‘s three-year extension with the Wizards doesn’t include any options or incentives, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic.
While 11 players received rookie scale extensions this offseason, many notable players didn’t reach an agreement with their respective teams prior to Monday’s deadline.
As we detailed earlier, the Suns couldn’t come to terms with the No. 1 pick of the 2018 draft, Deandre Ayton. Phoenix was unwilling to offer Ayton a full max contract, which short-circuited any hopes of an agreement.
The Suns raised the concept of a shorter maximum contract — presumably for three or four years instead of the full five years — but never formally made the offer or broached the idea again with Ayton’s reps, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst report. Ayton is unhappy with the franchise’s consistent stance that it simply doesn’t view him as a max player, the ESPN duo adds.
That adds an intriguing subplot to Phoenix’s drive to make the Finals again. Ayton will be headed toward restricted free agent next summer. Will he be motivated toward proving the front office wrong or will his unhappiness create a major distraction? Ayton could be the most attractive free agent on next year’s market and receive a giant offer sheet, which would force the Suns to decide to match it or let their franchise center walk away.
Ayton has some company among his peers. The Cavaliers and guard Collin Sexton were unable to reach an agreement and he’s headed toward restricted free agency, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Even though Sexton posted impressive offensive stats last season (24.3 PPG, 4.4 APG), his name was frequently mentioned in trade rumors this summer, a signal that the Cavs aren’t sold on the eighth pick of the 2018 draft as their long-term floor leader.
Sexton was hoping for a $100MM+, multi-year deal that aligned with his production over the first three years, Fedor reports. At one point this offseason, Sexton used De’Aaron Fox‘s five-year, $163MM extension in 2020 as a baseline. The Cavs were unwilling to go anywhere near that number and optimism waned in recent days about reaching an agreement.
The Hornets and swingman Miles Bridges also couldn’t come to terms, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets, nor could the Spurs and Lonnie Walker, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express News tweets. Bridges averaged 12.7 PPG and 6.0 RPG last season, while Walker contributed 11.2 PPG in his third year.
Donte DiVincenzo, a key member of the Bucks’ rotation last season until he suffered a torn ligament in his ankle in July, is also headed to restricted free agency. DiVincenzo averaged 10.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 3.1 APG last season. Some of the other notables who didn’t sign an extension or were not offered one include the Kings’ Marvin Bagley III and the Magic’s Mohamed Bamba.
The list of players who did and did not receive rookie scale extensions can be found here.
The new four-year extension for center Wendell Carter Jr. is a good deal for both him and the Magic, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Robbins sees the $50MM extension as a much safer investment than the five-year, $100MM contract the Cavaliers gave Jarrett Allen this summer. Carter, who was acquired from the Bulls in March, is a year younger than Allen and appears to have a long career ahead as a reliable big man who can rebound and switch on defense.
New head coach Jamahl Mosley has asked Carter to start taking more three-pointers and has used him at power forward during the preseason alongside Mo Bamba. With Jonathan Isaac and Chuma Okeke both sidelined by injuries, Carter and Bamba could be in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s season opener.
“The one thing that helps him is that he’s got great, active feet, and I think him understanding who’s a shooter, a non-shooter, those are going to be some scenarios that we’re going to have to continue to monitor,” Mosley said about Carter’s ability to defend outside the lane. “But I think he did a really good job of understanding how he could guard some of these fours in the league.”
There’s more from Orlando:
- The Magic have one more day to work out an extension with Bamba, but Robbins doesn’t expect it to happen. He notes that Bamba was slowed by an injury and then COVID-19 during his first two offseasons, and this summer was his first chance to really improve his conditioning. If Bamba turns in a strong season, he could be in demand as a restricted free agent in July.
- Cole Anthony was productive in the preseason after a disappointing performance during Summer League, Robbins notes in a separate story. Anthony may have been dealing with an injury in Las Vegas as he said, “It’s a world’s difference just how much better I feel right now.” He will likely start the season as the back-up point guard, although that could change when Markelle Fultz returns after offseason knee surgery.
- The Magic are in position to make a significant move before the trade deadline, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic. Orlando has a $17.1MM trade exception after sending Evan Fournier to the Celtics last season, along with $22.5MM in breathing room below the tax line.