The offseason the Orlando Magic just had, has confused many observers. Why tie yourself to a low playoff seed? But it makes sense, you just have to think about it a bit.
This offseason was a critical one for the Orlando Magic.
The team stood at somewhat of a crossroads.
They had just made their first playoff appearance since 2012. But some of their main contributors to that success — Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross and also Khem Birch were free agents.
In the cases of Terrence Ross and Nikola Vucevic, both players were going to command lofty contracts that would financially bind this team in the long term.
Orlando had to choose whether to bring these guys back or let them walk for next to nothing.
Ultimately, the Magic chose to run it back. They kept all those players no matter the price.
In addition to bringing back all of their meaningful contributors last season, the Magic surprisingly drafted another combo forward in Chuma Okeke and signed combo forward Al-Farouq Aminu.
While Chuma Okeke, probably is not expected to contribute this year, Al-Farouq Aminu will immediately step into a role where he will back up both Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon (and start if one of them is injured).
But long term it does not appear there will be enough room for all four of those players.
Another curious decision the Magic made was to stretch Timofey Mozgov in order to re-sign Khem Birch. The Magic decided to take on the financial hit of Mozgov for the next three seasons in order to bring back a third center in Birch.
Birch proved to be quite a valuable contributor last season and easily could have been a backup for many NBA teams.
Many have argued these moves locked the Magic into mediocrity. Orlando is making moves to stay under the luxury tax line for a team that barely made the playoffs last year.
Using figures reported by Josh Robbins of The Athletic, Vucevic signed a four-year, $100-million deal that is descending from a starting salary of $28 million. Ross signed a four-year, $54-million deal that is actually only guaranteed for $50 million with $4 million in unlikely incentives. Aminu signed a three-year, $30-million deal with a player option on the third year.
Of those deals, only Vucevic stands out as one that will significantly hamper the team moving forward.
What is interesting about the offseason the Magic have compiled is they deepened the roster significantly. Orlando suddenly has a bench to play with.
The roster is now full of players who are capable of being replacement-level NBA rotation players. That is a luxury this team has not always had.
But these moves still raise some questions.
Do the Magic intend to move forward with logjams at a bunch of their positions? Most notably, the Magic frontcourt is loaded with talent. Why pay Terrence Ross that much when Evan Fournier is already making a ton of money at the same ideal spot for both players?
The answer to me is simple. The Magic are going to be very active in the trade market this upcoming season or in the near future.
Orlando is set up with several players who will be fighting for playing time. And when the time comes, they will have the resources to consolidate them and go after the big fish.
This is the power of depth.
It is fairly clear Mohamed Bamba and Nikola Vucevic cannot co-exist on the court. On the team, Mohamed Bamba can continue to back up Nikola Vucevic, but one of the things Bamba needs to do in order to fix his problems is to play a lot of minutes.
Okeke will not be an issue this year as the Magic are going to take it slow with him. But next season, there is no current path to playing time for him. The Magic still do not have any future at point guard outside of the enigma that is Markelle Fultz.
The Magic have loaded up their frontcourt in an effort to preserve value, but also to complete trades that will force Orlando’s depth pieces to become rotation players. Even by bringing back Terrence Ross, the Magic made Evan Fournier expendable. Wesley Iwundu appears to be a legitimate rotation player on the wing.
Who will the Magic go after?
More from Orlando Magic News
- Orlando Magic completing training camp roster with length, athleticism
- Arnie Kander refreshes Orlando Magic’s performance training
- Orlando Magic 2023-24 Full 82-Game Schedule
- Orlando Magic’s In-Season Tournament Group play will challenge young team
- Orlando Magic stars prepare to take on the world
I would imagine the Magic still want to preserve some kind of youth. So even if one or two young guys were sent out in a trade I do not see the Magic trading for somebody who is closing in on 30 years old. They will want to maintain youth while acquiring somebody that is a backcourt player who is capable of creating offense at a high level.
The Magic have certainly put themselves in a position to be players on the trade market moving forward. But there is no guarantee they find the right player to fit their needs. They may be stuck with some of their log jams in the front court.
But having a log jam is not necessarily a bad thing.
The Magic have collected assets and the worst-case scenario is they are stuck with a team that consists of 13 or 14 guys who are in their primes or should continue to develop.
The idea the Magic are stuck because they re-signed their guys is ridiculous. The Magic have built one of the deeper teams in the NBA.
Does the team have flaws? Sure. Do they have assets to get out of their log jams? Seems like it. Do they possess a bunch of terrible contracts that will weigh them down in the future? Outside of Vucevic, not really.
The Magic seemingly have a plan. And it involves a ton of risk mitigation (bringing back your guys instead of bottoming out) at the cost of financial flexibility. The team is still trying to win and make the playoffs once again. That is the Magic’s chief goal.
As we saw with the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler, it appears that financial flexibility is very overrated.
So now the Magic are capped out with a deep team and a bunch of assets and movable deals that they could potentially trade.
What is so difficult to understand?