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Orlando Magic Daily
Fansided

A Look At The Magic & Free Agency

By Andrew Melnick

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With free agency officially starting Thursday, HTD is taking a look at Magic players who may be on the move at some point this offseason.

J.J. Redick

The most worthwhile story for Magic fans to follow in free agency is what will happen to J.J. Redick. Redick is a restricted free agent so the Magic can match any offer made to him. The Magic have a need for young wings on their roster and want Redick to return. Redick has expressed his desire to remain with the Magic and is fine with his role as a backup. It appears as if Magic General Manager Otis Smith is going to let Redick hit the open market and test his value, maybe even letting him sign an offer sheet and then deciding if they want to match a la Marcin Gortat last season.

Matt Barnes

It’s not as simple with Barnes, who opted out of the second year or a 2-year deal worth about $3.2 million, becoming an unrestricted free agent. He is looking for more money and more importantly, more security (aka more years). Both he and his fiancé enjoy Orlando and would like to stay but Barnes thinks he may get offers from upper echelon teams like the Lakers and Spurs. Barnes has also said a move to the bench would be fine if the Magic could bring in a big time player in a trade.

If the Magic must decide between Redick and Barnes, the choice will be Redick.

After the jump, you can check out the rest of players that may not be in a Magic uniform much longer.

Marcin Gortat

Last season, the Magic matched Dallas’ offer sheet worth $34 million over 5 years to retain the services of backup Center Marcin Gortat.  Gortat has given the Magic good minutes but there haven’t been a whole lot of them – he played just 13.4 minutes per game last year. Nothing against Gortat but that’s way too much money to be paying a backup Center so the Magic would probably like to get rid of his contract. Even Gortat himself has admitted that he believes he has been shopped by the Magic. Gortat’s value has dipped somewhat and it will be hard to find a taker for him without getting some bad contracts in return.

Brandon Bass

Signing a skilled power forward like Bass seemed like an excellent idea. And giving him 4 years at $4 million per year didn’t seem like a bad deal for a promising young player. The problem was he couldn’t get on the court. Bass appeared in only 50 games and played just 13.0 minutes per game. There are several rumors about why Bass didn’t see a lot of time but what really matters at this point in time is that his lack of playing time has decreased his value. If Bass can’t get on the court, the Magic have to trade him but finding a partner for a player making $4 million a year that had trouble earning playing time last season won’t be easy.

Jason Williams

Jason Williams may draw interest from teams like the Chicago Bulls or Miami Heat if one of these super teams is in fact created because they’d need additions who could contribute on the cheap. The Magic would like to get younger at the position and on the outside that would appear to mean ridding themselves of both Williams and Anthony Johnson. However, if the Magic can’t strike a deal for a younger point guard, Williams may be called on as the backup once again. There have also been some rumors Williams may welcome a role as the third point guard.

Vince Carter

Carter’s contract, which the Magic have a team option on after this season, is probably the biggest asset the Magic have. If the Magic were to strike a deal for any big-time player, Carter would almost certainly have to be involved in the trade. He could help match salaries and wouldn’t put much strain on the team he is traded to because he comes off the books in a year. Carter was expected to be Orlando’s go-to guy down the stretch but he didn’t deliver in the biggest spot. Carter obviously would like remain with the Magic if it were up to him but he appears to be very available.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor on the Fansided Front Page. Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).