Orlando Magic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Devin Cannady Undergoes Surgery On Ankle

April 26th, 2021 at 3:14pm CST by JD Shaw

APRIL 26: The Magic issued an update on Cannady today, announcing in a press release that he underwent a surgical procedure on Monday morning to clean out his ankle.

Although Cannady sustained an open ankle dislocation and a severe lateral sprain, the team said that further X-rays, a CT scan, and an MRI showed that his bones and cartilage remain intact. That’s good news for the rookie guard, who is in a plaster splint and is done for the season but is expected to make a full recovery, according to the club.

APRIL 25: Magic guard Devin Cannady has suffered an open fracture of his right ankle, an injury that will require surgery, the team announced on social media. Cannady sustained the injury during the first quarter of Orlando’s game against Indiana on Sunday night.

Cannady contested a drive and landed awkwardly on his ankle, shouting in agony as he fell near the baseline. No timetable has been issued for the Princeton product, who was stretchered off the floor shortly after sustaining the injury. It’s safe to say his season is over.

Cannady, 24, received G League Finals MVP honors this season with Lakeland. He appeared in seven games with the Magic, playing a total of 73 minutes across those contests. After first signing a 10-day deal with Orlando, he later inked a two-way pact with the club. He and Chasson Randle are the team’s two-way players.

The Magic are 18-41 and eight games behind the No. 10 seed Wizards with just under a month left in the season.

Steve Clifford Remains Out For Monday's Game

April 26th, 2021 at 2:48pm CST by Luke Adams

Magic head coach Steve Clifford, who registered a positive COVID-19 test, will remain out for Monday’s game vs. the Lakers, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic, who tweets that Tyrone Corbin will once again act as the club’s interim head coach. Clifford continues to be asymptomatic, Robbins notes.

Steve Clifford Could Miss Several Games

April 25th, 2021 at 9:15am CST by Arthur Hill

Magic coach Steve Clifford will miss tonight’s game against the Pacers after mixed results in his recent COVID-19 tests, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Clifford may be away from the team for multiple games while he remains under the league’s health and safety protocols, Woj adds.

Assistant coach Tyrone Corbin will take over the team until Clifford returns (Twitter link). Corbin has head coaching experience with the Jazz and Kings and owns a 119-167 career record.

Clifford told reporters Saturday night that his coronavirus test on Thursday came back positive. He submitted two negative tests on Friday, but had another positive result on Saturday morning. He was tested again last night and is scheduled to undergo another today.

Clifford added that he feels fine and isn’t exhibiting any symptoms of the virus. He said the team has been in an enhanced protocol since an official tested positive after Tuesday’s game against the Hawks.

The 59-year-old coach got his second dose of the Moderna vaccine on Thursday, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. However, he won’t be considered “fully vaccinated” until two weeks after his final shot, according to guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I feel comfortable that I’m not really in danger,” Clifford said. “That with the fact that my temperature, my oxidation numbers, how I feel, I have no side effects right now, I’m very comfortable with that.”

Magic Coach Steve Clifford Tests Positive For COVID-19

April 24th, 2021 at 7:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

7:11pm: Clifford held a Zoom call with reporters tonight, saying he has no COVID-19 symptoms and feels fine, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Clifford said he had a positive test Thursday night, followed by two negative tests Friday and another positive this morning. He underwent another test today and will be tested again Sunday morning.

Clifford added that one of the officials from Tuesday’s game in Atlanta tested positive for the virus, which put the Magic in an enhanced protocol (Twitter link). Assistant coach Tyrone Corbin would take over if Clifford isn’t cleared to coach Sunday (Twitter link).

“I don’t see a way that I coach tomorrow night. Monday, maybe,” Clifford said. “Then I guess if all these tests are negative it could be a chance by the time we go on the road.” (Twitter link)

5:40pm: Magic head coach Steve Clifford has returned a positive COVID-19 test, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Sources tell Charania that Clifford has received his first vaccine and is considered asymptomatic, and there’s hope that the test result is a false positive.

The Magic canceled today’s practice, according to Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link), but a team official said they are hopeful they can play Sunday’s game against the Pacers.

Results of the test are considered inconclusive, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Clifford could be cleared to coach tomorrow night if he tests negative two times before the game begins.

Clifford, 59, is in his third season as head coach in Orlando.

Donta Hall Signs Second 10-Day Deal With Magic

April 23rd, 2021 at 12:13pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic have signed forward Donta Hall to a second 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release. Hall’s first 10-day deal with Orlando expired on Thursday night.

Orlando is Hall’s fourth NBA team February 2020, when he signed a 10-day contract with Detroit. He later joined the Nets for the summer restart in Walt Disney World, played for the G League Ignite in this season’s NBAGL bubble at Disney, then inked a 10-day deal with the Raptors.

Hall got the chance to play regular minutes during his first 10 days in Orlando, averaging 4.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in four contests (14.0 MPG). His best game came last Wednesday in Chicago, when he put up seven points and nine rebounds in 17 minutes, posting a plus-eight rating and helping the Magic beat the Bulls.

Hall’s new 10-day pact will cover Orlando’s next five games before expiring next Sunday night. At that point, the Magic will have to either let him go or sign him to a rest-of-season contract.

Like his last 10-day deal, Hall’s new contract will be worth $99,020, so he’ll earn $198,040 for his 20 days with the Magic. That number would increase if the team re-signs him to a rest-of-season deal in May.

Checking In On Open NBA Roster Spots

April 22nd, 2021 at 4:30pm CST by Luke Adams

It has been nearly a month since the NBA’s trade deadline passed, but we’ve still seen a flurry of transactional activity during the last four weeks, as teams have signed and waived players ahead of the postseason.

While some clubs have full rosters and seem unlikely to make any changes between now and the end of the regular season, that’s certainly not the case across the board.

With the help of our roster counts tracker, here’s our latest look at open roster spots around the league, as of April 22:

Teams with one or more open 15-man roster spots:

Golden State Warriors
Miami Heat
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Orleans Pelicans (2)
New York Knicks
Portland Trail Blazers
San Antonio Spurs

The Heat, Timberwolves, Knicks, and Spurs each have 14 players on standard contracts and one opening on their 15-man rosters. They’re all good bets to sign a 15th man before the season ends, either for developmental purposes or for added postseason depth.

The Warriors and Trail Blazers have 13 players apiece on standard deals, one on a 10-day contract – Gary Payton II for Golden State and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for Portland – and one open spot. Hollis-Jefferson’s 10-day pact runs through next Tuesday, while Payton’s goes through Wednesday. Once those deals expire, the Warriors and Blazers will each have up to two weeks to get back to 14 players.

Since the NBA only allows teams to dip to 13 or fewer players for up to two weeks at a time, the Pelicans are very much on the clock. They’ve been at 13 players for the last nine days, since Isaiah Thomas‘ 10-day contract expired. The expectation is that New Orleans will sign draft-and-stash prospect Didi Louzada as a 14th man by early next week.

Teams whose 15-man rosters are full due to one or more 10-day contracts:

Cleveland Cavaliers (Mfiondu Kabengele)
Denver Nuggets (Austin Rivers)
Los Angeles Clippers (DeMarcus Cousins; Yogi Ferrell)
Memphis Grizzlies (Tim Frazier)
Oklahoma City Thunder (Justin Robinson)
Orlando Magic (Donta Hall; Robert Franks)
Philadelphia 76ers (Anthony Tolliver)
Sacramento Kings (Damian Jones)
Toronto Raptors (Freddie Gillespie)
Washington Wizards (Jordan Bell)

These 10 teams have full 15-man rosters as of today, but that might not last long. The dozen 10-day contracts listed here will begin expiring as soon as tonight (Hall), so if those players aren’t re-signed, the clubs will have roster openings.

The Nets will also fall into this group once they officially waive LaMarcus Aldridge and sign Mike James to a 10-day deal.

Teams with an open two-way contract slot:

Cleveland Cavaliers
Minnesota Timberwolves
Phoenix Suns
Toronto Raptors

The Suns have only carried a single two-way player all season long, so there’s no guarantee they’ll fill their second slot before the end of the regular season.

The other teams listed here are all better candidates to do so — Cleveland (Lamar Stevens) and Toronto (Yuta Watanabe) just recently promoted two-way players to their respective 15-man rosters, while Minnesota was carrying a pair of two-way players until waiving Ashton Hagans in February.

The Cavs reportedly intend to sign Jeremiah Martin to fill their two-way opening.

Magic Re-Sign Robert Franks To Second 10-Day Deal

April 22nd, 2021 at 9:05am CST by Luke Adams

9:05am: Franks’ new 10-day deal is now official, according to an announcement from the Magic.

7:51am: The Magic will re-sign forward Robert Franks to a second 10-day contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). Franks’ first 10-day deal with the team expired overnight.

Franks, 24, played for the Lakeland Magic, Orlando’s G League affiliate, earlier this year. He averaged 12.1 PPG and 6.6 RPG on .504/.356/.783 shooting in 14 games (24.5 MPG) for a Lakeland squad that eventually won the G League title, earning him a shot with the NBA club.

In his first 10 days with Orlando, Franks appeared in four games, averaging 5.0 PPG and 1.8 RPG on .500/.429/.833 shooting in 11.8 minutes per contest.

Assuming Franks’ second 10-day contract is officially finalized today, it’ll cover the Magic’s next six games, expiring after the team’s May 1 contest vs. Memphis. At that point, Orlando will either have to sign Franks to a rest-of-season contract or let him walk.

Franks will earn $99,020 on his 10-day deal.

This Season’s Disabled Player Exceptions Set To Expire

April 19th, 2021 at 10:00am CST by Luke Adams

The disabled player exceptions that teams have been granted throughout the 2020/21 season will expire if they go unused on Monday. April 19 is this year’s deadline to use or lose those exceptions.

As our breakdown shows, the Warriors, Nets, Heat, and Wizards each received a disabled player exception this season for injuries to Klay Thompson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Meyers Leonard, and Thomas Bryant, respectively. The Magic were given a pair of DPEs due to season-ending injuries suffered by Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz.

None of those five teams have used their disabled player exceptions — the Heat forfeited theirs when they decided to trade Leonard to the Thunder in a deal for Trevor Ariza, but the rest are still available.

We go into more detail on how exactly disabled player exceptions work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, a DPE gives a team the opportunity to add an injury replacement by either signing a player to a one-year contract, trading for a player in the final year of his contract, or placing a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract.

At this point in the season, any free agent on the open market typically commands no more than the minimum salary. And since the trade deadline has passed, it’s extremely unlikely that Golden State, Brooklyn, Washington, or Orlando will use their exceptions before the end of the day.

Theoretically, any one of those teams could use its DPE to place a waiver claim on Moritz Wagner‘s $2.16MM expiring contract, but he’ll likely end up just clearing waivers later today.

Veterans Looking To Keep Magic Engaged

April 18th, 2021 at 6:26pm CST by JD Shaw

The Magic‘s veterans are looking to keep the team focused as the regular season starts to wind down, Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel writes. Orlando currently holds an 18-38 record, the second-worst mark in the East, placing five games behind the No. 10 Bulls. “I feel like myself, T-Ross (Terrence Ross), MCW (Michael Carter-Williams), Bac’ (Dwayne Bacon), Gary (Harris), we can help them — all the young guys — have the right approach every game,” James Ennis said. “I know it’s kind of tough playing these last games. I don’t know if we can make the playoffs or not, but it’s just our jobs to keep everybody engaged and just staying focused on the goals for our team and ourselves.”

Magic Sign Devin Cannady To Two-Way Deal

April 16th, 2021 at 8:53am CST by Luke Adams

Former Princeton guard Devin Cannady is back under contract with the Magic, as the team announced today in a press release that Cannady has rejoined the roster on a two-way contract.

Cannady signed a 10-day deal with Orlando on April 6, but the team ended that contract early in order to make room for another 10-day signing, Donta Hall. Since the Magic waived two-way player Karim Mané around the same time, there was an expectation that Cannady might be brought back to fill the two-way slot formerly held by Mané. Now it’s official.

Undrafted in 2019, Cannady has spent most of his first two professional seasons in the G League. After playing for the Long Island Nets as a rookie, he joined the Magic for training camp in December, then suited up for Orlando’s G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic, during the 2020/21 “bubble” season.

Cannady’s regular season numbers in 13 games (25.8 MPG) for Lakeland were relatively modest, as he averaged 11.7 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 2.7 APG. However, the 24-year-old knocked down 40% of his three-point attempts and played a key part in the Magic’s postseason run, scoring 22 points in the team’s NBAGL championship win to earn Finals MVP honors.

During his abbreviated 10-day contract with Orlando, Cannady saw limited action in three games, scoring 14 points in 13 total minutes. He and fellow point guard Chasson Randle are now the Magic’s two-way players.