The Orlando Magic are reportedly among the teams who will offer D’Angelo Russell. At the very least, this signals the Magic will be active in July.
The Brooklyn Nets made their first visit to Orlando in mid-January and trailed by 19 points in the third quarter.
That is when D’Angelo Russell started cooking, on his way to 40 points. He would hit big shot after big shot in the fourth quarter. Finally, he would drain a step-back 3-pointer over Evan Fournier, pointing to his arm as he does after big shots. The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Orlando Magic 117-115.
That game would prove to be critical in keeping the Nets in sixth in the Eastern Conference. And it added to Russell’s legend in an All-Star year.
Now with Russell set to become a restricted free agent, he will have plenty of suitors. The Nets certainly have big ideas in mind with their massive amount of cap space available. And so like the Magic with Nikola Vucevic, it appears there is an All-Star on the table to move.
And it appears the Magic are going to be one of the teams chasing after Russell when June 30 comes.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Orlando Magic will join the Utah Jazz, Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana Pacers as teams preparing an offer for Russell.
To be sure, getting Russell would be a huge get for the Magic under any circumstance. The 23-year-old point guard is coming off a career season averaging 21.1 points per game, 7.0 assists per game and a 51.2 percent effective field goal percentage.
Just like the Magic’s own All-Star in Nikola Vucevic, that surprise performance helped propel the Nets into the playoffs.
Grabbing him would help fill one of the Magic’ biggest weaknesses at point guard and add a player who can create his own shot off the dribble. As Orlando learned in that series with Brooklyn, Russell can be deadly. And even deadlier in the clutch.
But signing him will be tough.
He is a restricted free agent and so the Nets will have the right to match any offer he might get. Brooklyn will have the cap room to sign a max free agent and retain Russell. So it will have to be a big offer to pry Russell free.
Not to mention the Magic would have to beat out all those other teams expected to be interested.
Orlando also would have to do some cap maneuvering to get to max cap room. By renouncing free agency rights to Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross and Khem Birch, the team can get to roughly $23 million in room. As Charania also reports though, the Magic are expected to make a qualifying offer to Khem Birch to retain his restricted free agency rights.
Orlando could get to around $30 million in room if they renounce their other free agents by stretching Timofey Mozgov‘s remaining salary and cutting him. That would not need to be done until they are about to sign the new player.
On top of all this, signing a max-caliber player like a Russell would essentially spend all of that newly created cap room, making it harder for the Magic to add other players in free agency to improve the roster.
But taking this, in addition with the report from Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders that Orlando will have interest in Kemba Walker, suggests the team is not sitting on itsd hands this summer. This is a team that has ambitious plans to improve on their playoff cameo this past year.
Whether the magic can make good on any of these ambitions is still up in the air and unclear. They are still limited in their free agency options. And they are likely willing to explore many different lines to improve the team — especially considering their own All-Star in Vucevic is a free agent himself.
The Magic though do not seem content to run back the same roster. They appear by these rumors willing to invest a lot to keep the team on its positive track and get back in the playoffs. They know their spot is not reserved.
As free agency inches closer, the signals already point to an active offseason for the Magic.