Orlando Magic Daily
Fansided

Orlando Magic giving Chuma Okeke a redshirt year benefits everyone

By Philip Rossman-Reich

The Orlando Magic will give unsigned rookie Chuma Okeke a year to recover and get healthy. (Photo by Sean Berry/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Orlando Magic will give unsigned rookie Chuma Okeke a year to recover and get healthy. (Photo by Sean Berry/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 6
Next
Chuma Okeke, Auburn Tigers
(Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

G-League Precedent

The next step to the plan then if Chuma Okeke is redshirting would be to play in the G-League when he is ready.

That will probably be best for him anyway. There is not much room on the Magic roster to afford him many minutes to play. He might have been sitting on the bench anyway.

It is not entirely clear when Okeke will be ready to play after tearing his ACL. He was walking without a boot or crutches when the team introduced him in June after the draft. The assumption is that he could play again by January or February.

So it makes some sense for both player and team to wait or use him primarily in Lakeland this season. There are financial implications to that part of the decision too.

Live Feed

Grade the trade: Wizards buy low on a potential defensive star in a proposed deal
Grade the trade: Wizards buy low on a potential defensive star in a proposed deal /

Wiz of Awes

  • Boston Celtics: Proposal lands dream target on Cs core's timeline Hardwood Houdini
  • Auburn basketball: Did Buffalo Wild Wings acknowledge the double-dribble? Fly War Eagle
  • Orlando Magic: 3 most promising young players right now Hoops Habit
  • Orlando Magic: Chuma Okeke has saved this season Hoops Habit
  • Auburn basketball: Chuma Okeke has Magical back-to-back career nights Fly War Eagle

    • If Okeke is indeed out for more than half the season, it would be difficult to integrate him into the group at that point. Especially if the Magic are in the midst of a playoff chase. It was always going to be problematic to bring Okeke back on that timeline if the Magic are where they hope to be. He was always destined to play most of his recovery games in the G-League.

    It only made sense to have Okeke lose a year off his rookie contract if he was going to practice with the team primarily. The Magic have always preferred their roster players get practice time with the main roster.

    But if Okeke cannot practice, then that point is probably moot.

    It is exceedingly rare for a first-round pick to take a redshirt year like this. Josh Huestis is the most prominent example.

    The Oklahoma City Thunder took Huestis with the 29th pick in the draft. It was a surprise pick as nobody seemed to have Huestis picked that high. It turned out the team agreed to take Huestis that high — along with the guaranteed contract that comes with the first-round pick — with the condition he would spend his first year in the G-League.

    Huestis was healthy though when Oklahoma City took him. The Orlando Magic taking Okeke and planning to let him rehab the year without signing him is a bit more unprecedented.

    While president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said in defending the pick that NBA teams had Chuma Okeke rated higher than most media pundits did, this kind of an agreement or the possibility of this plan could explain why the Magic were willing to “reach” on Okeke with the 16th pick.