Orlando Magic GM Rob Hennigan is in line for a contract extension as he enters the final year of his deal. The Magic appear set to stay the course.
The Orlando Magic are planning to extend the contract for general manager Rob Hennigan this summer, sources close to Magic management tell Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.
This is a largely expected and procedural move for the team as Hennigan’s contract expires after the 2016 season. Robbins reports the team does not like to have key management personnel in lame-duck years and want to ensure that people in these positions do not make risky, short-term decision. A long-term plan has been the hallmark of this general manager regime, so it makes sense to give incentive to keep this long-term view.
As Robbins reports, the Magic originally signed Hennigan to a three-year deal with a team option for a fourth year. Like with Jacque Vaughn, the Magic picked up that option last year.
Unlike Jacque Vaughn, however, Hennigan survived this frustrating season. And management appears satisfied with the his progress in team building. However, for how long seems a bit more up in the air.
The Magic won 20 games in the first year of Hennigan’s rebuild which saw the team spin off much of its salary and trade Dwight Howard for young pieces and no proven star. It was an attempt to begin building through the draft.
Last year, Orlando got the second pick in the draft in Victor Oladipo, but was still in the process of clearing cap room and building a solid base. The team won only 23 games and finished with one of the three worst records in the league.
That did not create any lottery luck and the team ended up with the fourth overall pick and the extremely raw Aaron Gordon. With eight games remaining, the Magic have 22 wins and a lot more questions to answer.
The Magic entered this season professing a desire to play more meaningful games deeper into the season. But things fell off the rails in December. Hennigan’s first coaching hire in Jacque Vaughn was fired in February, young players have not progressed as expected and veteran free agents have not performed as expected.
A number of different factors have led to this season seemingly riding off the rails. But Hennigan will get his chance to keep the team on track. The Magic will hire a new coach this summer (a very important hire for the team), make a big decision on Tobias Harris and some cap space to play around with before the free agency bonanza in 2016.
The salary cap is expected to come in at about $67.4 million. The Magic have about $38.9 million committed to next season, giving them roughly $28.5 million to spend next season. If recent reports about Tobias Harris are to be believed, Hennigan will have approximately $15.5 million to spend next summer. That would not be enough to spend a max contract unless the team renounces its restricted free agents.
Of course, this is a long-term plan. The Magic may not look to one free agent to fix everything this summer. So Orlando may not spend all that money this summer and look for cosmetic changes or minor free agent deals — like the four-year, $32 million given to Channing Frye last summer.
Hennigan has already proven a solid judge of talent having drafted Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo and snatched Tobias Harris from the Bucks and Nikola Vucevic from the 76ers, but he has yet to prove himself as a salesman to free agents and appropriately value free agents.
As he builds depth, and as his new coaching hire takes over and imprints a new identity, he will have the flexibility to spend some this summer. Whether he does smartly we will have to wait and see.
What this report does make clear, however, is Hennigan will be the one in charge of completing this rebuild. The Magic do not have any intention of changing course in that regard, believing in the plan Hennigan has set forth.
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