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

Orlando Magic Post Trade Deadline Status

Hitting Free Agency

So the Orlando Magic will have a ton of cap room. And while the first thing to deal with is the free agencies of both Mo Bamba and Gary Harris, the team will still have plenty of money to spend and fill out the roster.

And the Magic will have to fill out the roster in one way or another. The team has only 10 players under contract for next season — 11 if you include the Magic’s first-round draft pick. Harris and Bamba would only bring the team up to 13.

There are clear holes to fill and the Magic surely will explore some other moves to round out the roster.

Here is the Magic’s depth chart for next season without Harris or Bamba:

What is clear from this is the Magic could certainly use both Harris and Bamba. They will definitely need better center depth whether that is bringing back Bamba or adding someone else. And they probably need another wing player somewhere — even with bringing back Harris.

The team will still need to hit free agency with some aggression.

They may not chase after the max guys — although Deandre Ayton could be a big-name target for the team even with the Phoenix Suns having matching rights in restricted free agency. But there are still plenty of solid role players the team could chase.

Bobby Marks of ESPN put together a list of the free agents available and there are still plenty of solid veterans who would fit the Magic’s roster and give the veteran know-how a young team needs to advance.

Orlando could be one of the teams to throw some money at the big restricted free agents this offseason. Deandre Ayton would certainly fill the Magic’s center needs, even if it pushed Wendell Carter to the 4 and forced a bit of a lineup backlog with Franz Wagner and Jonathan Isaac splitting minutes at the 3.

They were also at one point attached to Miles Bridges as a potential team to send him an offer sheet.

In both instances, it is hard to see the parent teams not matching any offer. But the Magic are one of the few teams that could make those teams sweat with big-time contract offers.

More likely, Orlando will think smaller, trying to spend their capital to secure a veteran player to help the young team transition to its next phase and align better with its spending timeline.

Players who could be on the Magic’s early target list might include T.J. Warren, Bobby Portis, Chris Boucher, Taurean Prince, Jeremy Lamb or Bryn Forbes.

Those may not be the most exciting names on paper, but it is more about the support they can give to the young core to begin advancing the team. And the Magic probably will not make final decisions on which path their summer takes until the draft piece is in place.

What the Magic are likely really concerned about as they hit free agency is aligning their contracts for when they are ready to make a big splash — think how the Magic kept their books clean for the summer of 2007 and the expiration of Grant Hill’s contract when they signed Rashard Lewis, the team’s last max free agent.

The Magic are likely thinking more along these lines and trying to make sure they can create cap room and remain flexible for when they truly are ready to spend some real money.

Orlando will have to spend some money on their current rookies beginning with Cole Anthony in the summer of 2024. That might be when the Magic have to start making their play and pushing some chips into the center of the table.

Certainly, within the next two years, the Magic would like to be on a clearer path toward contention and be in a position to make free agency — or trades — matter.

And that is the real timeline the Magic are on and trying to predict. Nothing they do in free agency will be done to hurt that target year.

So it is probably far more likely the Magic sign players to a two- or three-year deal to try to line up their contracts for a big summer.

The biggest thing though is Orlando has a lot of options to improve the team. The Magic are in a good position to use their flexibility in a number of ways. And that is the position a rebuilding team wants to be.

Orlando did not do much to preview what its future will look like at this trade deadline. But the world is still very open to the team.