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Orlando Magic trade deadline: Where the team stands before a big offseason

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Jalen Suggs has not quite burst out with stardom in his rookie year. But he still figures to be key to the Orlando Magic's future. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Jalen Suggs has not quite burst out with stardom in his rookie year. But he still figures to be key to the Orlando Magic's future. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Gary Harris, Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown
Orlando Magic guard Gary Harris has been part of a rebuild before. He is ready to help this young team out again. Mandatory Credit: Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports /

Orlando Magic Post Trade Deadline Status

Salary Cap Status: Plenty of room

This year’s free agency class is not considered a particularly good one. So what this section is about to say may not matter a whole lot. But it is still very important as the Orlando Magic begin planning their future.

Orlando will be one of the few teams in the league with cap room this offseason. They could easily get to max cap room if they wanted to go after some of the big free agents. There is just no one to go after, at least that feels attainable. We will get to some of those options in a minute.

As things currently stand, the Magic have $83.1 million committed to their roster in 2023. Before getting to cap holds — especially to retain Mo Bamba’s restricted free agency rights — the Magic are projected, according to Spotrac, to have a little more than $28 million in cap room to spend this summer.

Some key decisions will begin to eat into that room of course.

The first is that this total does not include the Magic’s first-round pick. The top pick in the draft will be due a salary of $9.0 million and the second pick comes in around $8.1 million. So the Magic will not be at max cap room right off the bat.

Bamba will have a cap hold of $22.7 million to retain his restricted free agent rights. His qualifying offer should come in at $10.1 million. It is definitely a real option for Bamba to take the qualifying offer and kick his free agency down the road one more year if he cannot find a long-term deal.

Before the Magic do anything else in the offseason, they will have to make the decision on what to do with Bamba.

Additionally, if the Magic want to re-sign Harris, his cap hold will settle in at $30.7-million. So the Magic would not be able to do much of anything unless they deal with him first.

The Magic’s first task this summer then will be deciding what to do with their own players. Both qualifying offers and Bird Rights cap holds can be renounced or kept as needed. Nothing is final until a contract is signed.

These are just important to note as the Magic plan their offseason — and time their signings (just because a contract is agreed to does not mean it is signed immediately).

Harris is not likely to sign for the same amount he did with the Denver Nuggets a few years ago.

But Orlando has cap room to spend and they can spend it in a variety of ways.

Free agency is one way (more on that in a later slide). The other way is to use that cap room to acquire players in trades.

What the Magic have left to trade is small though. The only big salaries on the roster belong to key young players — Jonathan Isaac, Markelle Fultz and now Wendell Carter. It is not clear who else on the Magic the team would be willing to move beyond Terrence Ross.

But there are options and that is most important.