Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris hopeful for extension

Training camp opened Tuesday with the first practice of the season. That will be followed by four days of two-a-day practices (at least that is what is scheduled) as the Magic prepare for the 2015 season. There is obviously tons of anticipation and interest in what this team will do.

It would not be this current iteration of the Magic without some eye toward the future. And until October 31, that eye is likely on the board room inside Amway Center where Rob Hennigan is conducting contract extension negotiations with Rade Filipova of BDA Sports Management and Henry Thomas of CAA.

Those are Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris‘ agent. They have until October 31 to reach a contract extension with the Magic or they will enter restricted free agency next summer.

That does not create the most urgent deadline.

Restricted free agency is not the worst thing in the world — unless you are Greg Monroe or Eric Bledsoe — and it is a backstop to prevent the team from spending more than the market could bear. Of course, that is also a risk if the market proves itself to be more expensive than the team is willing to pay.

A lot of teams, it seems, are willing to let players creep into restricted free agency and wait for the market to set itself.

Nikola Vucevic has proved his worth on the court. Now it comes down to whether the price is right in the board room. Photo by Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

That is part of the calculus Rob Hennigan is going through before that Halloween deadline to extend these two key players. The good news is, for now, both are saying they want to be in Orlando long term.

“I will leave that up to my agent and the team,” Vucevic said. “I’m just trying to focus on the team and focus on this training camp first and then the season. Like I’ve said before, I would like to stay here. I love it here. But I will let my agent and the team deal with that.”

“Obviously I want to be here,” Harris said. “But I think I should just go out there and play basketball. I will let my agent handle all that. I really don’t get too involved in them. I don’t want to use that as something to lose my focus. I’m about my team, about winning games this year and helping our team win games. That has been my focus this whole offseason. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, you just keep it going.”

That is the approach these two players are taking. There obviously has to be some consternation behind the scenes.

For Vucevic, things seem pretty clear. He is expected to get a contract similar to Larry Sanders in the four-year, $48 million range. The price the Magic seem to have to pay is $11-12 million per year. And that seems relatively fair. The Magic have to weight whether he is truly worth that much of a commitment internally.

Tobias Harris has been a little bit more difficult to peg. He has been a great scorer, ending last year at 17.4 points per game. But he is still sort of without a position. And he has not played an entire season with a featured role.

High usage players like Harris — 22.2 percent usage rate last year on a 48.6 percent effective field goal percentage — have trouble finding value because their role is not quite defined. Harris was coming off the bench and you could tell he was fine with the role but hungry to do more too.

This is all to say, both Vucevic and Harris have the chance to prove their worth on the court this season. Both players are saying the right things and, at least, saying they are letting their agents handle the negotiations while they prepare for the season. This should not be a thing that hangs over their individual seasons.

Of course, if one or both are unable to reach an extension it will be interesting to see how these young players handle the pressure of their first true contract year.

At this early stage of training camp and with that deadline still nearly a whole month away, the focus remains on playing this year and taking care of business on the court rather than off the court. It is that kind of attitude that will have the Magic wanting to keep one or both of these key players.

“I’m ready. Whatever the team needs me to do, I’ll be ready to do,” Vucevic said of his upcoming season. “Whether it’s shooting the ball, passing the ball, rebounding the ball, I’ll be out there trying to do the best I can. When you play, you want to be the guy your team likes to go to. I think that’s what all competitors want to do. If I get more touches, I’m just going to make the right play, whether that’s scoring, passing, whatever it is. I’m just going to try to make the right play.”