Orlando Magic exercise team options on Aaron Gordon, Elfrid Payton, Mario Hezonja

The Orlando Magic made a largely procedural move exercising team options on Aaron Gordon, Elfrid Payton and Mario Hezonja‘s rookie options.

The Orlando Magic have exercised team options on Aaron Gordon, Elfrid Payton and Mario Hezonja’s contract for the 2018 season. They did not announce they were exercising the option on C.J. Wilcox‘s contract for that season.

This is a largely procedural move. All first round draft picks sign a two-year deal with team options on the third and fourth year before restricted free agency hits before the fifth season. By doing these moves, the Magic retain the rights to offer Gordon and Payton a qualifying offer in the summer of 2018 to activate restricted free agency.

All three players are expected to be major contributors to the Magic this season.

Gordon, the fourth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, has the most responsibility on him this year. He is switching more permanently to small forward and is expected to take a sizable leap offensively.

He averaged 9.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last year, eclipsing 10 points per game after the All-Star Break when he got more playing time.

Gordon has the most potential of these players and, obviously, is the highest draft pick. The Magic are expecting Gordon to make a big leap in addition to continuing to improve his strong perimeter defense.

Payton too is a critical piece to the Magic this season. After a strong rookie year, Payton struggled last year to average 10.7 points and 6.4 assists per game. His shooting did improve, but was still a considerable weakness. Worse yet, his defense took a nosedive his second year.

The Magic are undoubtedly better when Payton is playing at his best. That is clear when he is able to flirt with triple doubles — which he has done several times. But his consistency was an issue throughout his second season especially.

For both Gordon and Payton, this third year very much helps set their value. They will both become eligible for an extension next summer. Otherwise they will hit restricted free agency now that the Magic have picked up the fourth-year option on their contracts for the 2018 season.

Hezonja is on his way to that mark.

The Magic picked up the third-year team option on his contract. The Magic are not giving up on the fifth overall pick from the 2015 Draft.

Hezonja struggled himself in his rookie year as he got comfortable in the NBA. He averaged only 6.1 points per game and 34.9 percent from beyond the arc. He struggled on defense and seemed to be losing some confidence.

This is a big season for Hezonja as the Magic should be able to give him a more certain role. He struggled in the preseason with his shooting. But the Magic are still confident Hezonja will be able to make a meaningful contribution this year.

The only option the Magic did not pick up belongs to C.J. Wilcox.

The Magic acquired Wilcox, the 28th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, from the Los Angeles Clippers this summer. Wilcox did not get a ton of playing time with the Clippers, but is a solid shooter. When he did get time, he simply made shots at a high rate.

So far the Magic have not made a decision on picking up his option. The Magic have until Oct. 31 to make a decision on Wilcox’s fourth-year option. If they do pick it up, Wilcox will become eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2018.

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Again, these are largely procedural moves for the Magic to retain the rights of these young players.