Orlando Magic sign Ramon Galloway

The Orlando Magic made a roster move. Adding a player in Ramon Galloway who seems destined to turn right back around and play for Erie this year.

The Orlando Magic still have some roster decisions to make before the regular season begins Wednesday. They made at least one before the weekend.

And it came a little bit out of left field.

The Magic announced Friday they have signed guard Ramon Galloway. Galloway was not on the training camp roster. In fact, he was not on anyone’s preseason roster. Galloway seemingly made the roster out of nowhere.

Galloway is a 6-foot-3 guard. He played last year for two teams in Italy — OpenJobMetis Varese of SerieA and Fulgor Omegna of the SerieA2 League. In 26 games, he averaged 11.7 points per game, 4.2 rebounds per game and 3.0 assists per game.

American fans likely know him more for his play at La Salle, where he led the Explorers to the Sweet Sixteen in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

In his senior year at La Salle, Galloway averaged 17.2 points per game and 3.7 assists per game, shooting a 52.1 percent effective field goal percentage.

Galloway played for the Charlotte Hornets at the Orlando Summer League, scoring 25 points in the final game.

He clearly has some ability to get in the paint and create his own. And he was a great 3-point shooter in college.

Galloway though is a bit of a tweener. And not a true point guard at that.

His play style is seemingly very similar to another tweener guard trying to learn point guard who is currently on the Magic roster — Nick Johnson.

Johnson had an up-and-down preseason, but was largely left off the floor for playing time. He played only 10.2 minutes per game in four preseason games. It is largely expected Johnson will return to the D-League.

The Magic have not made any final roster decisions on their remaining training camp invitees — Damjan Rudez, Arinze Onuaku and Nick Johnson. Magic coach Frank Vogel said after practice Friday the team had a pretty good idea what direction it wanted to go, but were still planning some discussions on players.

Those discussions clearly opened the door for Galloway to walk through and get an opportunity, even though he did not participate in training camp or the preseason.

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The team currently has 13 guaranteed contracts and so can carry two more players. That means two players will likely get cut. Galloway’s addition — and, to be clear, the Magic did not sign him to a D-League contract, he is a member of the main roster — does not seem to look good for Johnson making the team.

Rudez, because of his familiarity with Frank Vogel and his production in the preseason, is expected to take that final spot.

The Magic will have to make these decision by the beginning of the week.

Where Galloway might fit is a bit of a mystery though. The Magic seem set at the two guard positions. D.J. Augustin and C.J. Watson backup Elfrid Payton at point guard. And the Magic have Jodie Meeks (when healthy), C.J. Wilcox and Mario Hezonja able to play behind Evan Fournier at the 2.

There is seemingly little opportunity.

The Magic may have signed Galloway as a way to give him some guaranteed money before optioning him for the D-League. Galloway may end up spending most of his time with Erie. The Magic may waive him at some point in the near future to allow him to gain experience with the Bayhawks full time.

UPDATE: Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports the Magic did indeed sign Galloway to obtain his D-League rights. They will likely cut him before the season begins. He will then sign with the Erie BayHawks.

Giving him a training camp invite with some guaranteed money would be an inducement to his playing for the Bayhawks.

Next: Which players could the Orlando Magic trade this year?

It is hard to make too much sense of this move outside of the potential benefit of sending him to play for the Erie BayHawks this season.