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Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag Volume 20: Development

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Dec 22, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Orlando Magic head coach Frank Vogel coaches against the New York Knicks during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 22, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Orlando Magic head coach Frank Vogel coaches against the New York Knicks during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 23, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic general manager Rob Hennigan talks with media as Frank Vogel is introduced as the new head coach during a press conference at Amway Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic general manager Rob Hennigan talks with media as Frank Vogel is introduced as the new head coach during a press conference at Amway Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

This answer is a bit more straightforward.

Let’s start with Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders who does a lot of these calculations. According to Pincus, assuming a salary cap of $103 million, the Magic can get a maximum of $30.1 million in cap space. That is if they renounce all their free agents.

As you note, there are still cap holds, no trades, etc.

Serge Ibaka‘s cap hold is $18.4 million and Jodie Meeks‘ cap hold is $12.4 million. For this exercise, I think we can assume the Magic would not re-sign Jeff Green, C.J. Wilcox or C.J. Watson. You can see how quickly the Magic’s cap room runs out.

That gives them almost literally no cap room to spend on new players. They could use their nontaxpayer mid-level exception to boost the roster this summer. But their first priority will be to re-sign Serge Ibaka (assumedly).

This also probably suggests what the Magic could be looking to do this season at the trade deadline. They may look to cash in on Jeff Green’s expiring deal to get some quality players to boost the roster. Nikola Vucevic‘s team-friendly deal also becomes valuable.

Orlando still has some flexibility. But the Magic have to take care of their own guys. That is why they need this to work this year and prove they can take some step forward with this team. Because a lot of their improvement will have to come internally or via trade.