The Orlando Magic waived Patricio Garino, ending the initially controversial tenure of the Argentinian forward. Neither April signings made camp in 2017.
The Orlando Magic officially waived guard Patricio Garino, severing ties with the second player the team signed in April last year as a training camp flyer for next year.
Like Marcus Georges-Hunt, he will not get that chance to play in training camp partly because of a roster crunch that has left the team overstocked with players on the wing and little playing time for training camp invitees. At least now he has the opportunity to catch on with another roster.
Garino got on the Magic’s radar during Summer League last year where he played strong and showed strong defensive instincts. He parlayed that into a strong run with the Argentina National Team at the Olympics and a training camp invite with the San Antonio Spurs.
Eventually, he found himself back with the Magic. Garino played in 43 minutes across five games, going scoreless last year. He struggled especially with his 3-point shot.
Those struggles continued in Summer League. Despite being under contract and having a shot at making the team in training camp, Garino averaged only 5.6 points per game and shot a 52.3 percent effective field goal percentage. But he hit on only 3 of 12 3-pointers. By the end of the week, he was coming off the bench instead of starting.
Georges-Hunt definitely outplayed him and pushed him further down a loaded depth chart.
The team’s free agent signings of Jonathon Simmons and Arron Afflalo further put Garino’s spot in the Magic’s future well in doubt. It knocked Georges-Hunt out of the running for sure.
Garino’s contract was non-guaranteed this year unless he made the opening night roster. So like Georges-Hunt, Garino is eligible to rejoin the team on a two-way contract if the Magic choose to go that direction.
A separation though might be in the cards. Even if it was not his fault.
Orlando Magic
Of course, Garino is most known to the NBA as the guy in the infamous whiteboard photo for the Magic.
When he signed his contract with the team, his agent snapped a photo that included a peek at the Magic’s whiteboard with its supposed free agent plans. That was back when Rob Hennigan was general manager. And none of those plans came to pass with new management.
Garino has never quite been able to live that down. That will always be his mark with the team. For worse, unfortunately for him.
Garino was the last cut last year for the Spurs in camp. He performed well for the Austin Spurs.
Garino will likely catch on somewhere in the league — even if it is in the G-League. He is still young and has some good defensive skills and a natural shooting stroke. It just did not appear to work out for the Magic.
Not with their roster the ways it is.
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Orlando now has 15 players on the roster. The team does not have to cut anyone else to form a legal roster for the regular season. And Orlando still has its two two-way slots open.