5 potential free agent targets with ties to Orlando Magic
3. Nikola Vucevic/Bismack Biyombo
If you thought revisiting the past with Victor Oladipo was a bad idea, then you are probably not going to like where this is going.
Both Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Both centers not only played for the Magic at one point, they somehow played together.
Obviously, this would mean bringing one of the two back, and not both. Starting with Vucevic, and if he was willing to come off the bench on a team-friendly deal, he would be a superb backup to Wendell Carter. An offensive big who is still in the tail end of his prime and who loves the organization. We argued the merits of this recently.
Nikola Vucevic is an unrestricted free agent this summer... would you want to see him come home to the Magic on a team-friendly deal as their backup big? Or is Vucevic in the Magic's past for a reason? (✍️ @OMagicDaily) https://t.co/atYQfrKq7c
— Luke Duffy (@LucaLockheart) May 7, 2023
The most likely scenario is the Chicago Bulls bring him back on a new deal. After all, they lost Carter Jr., the pick that turned in Franz Wagner and another likely lottery pick this summer in prising him away from the Magic. To let him walk back having been fleeced in the process would be a disaster for them.
Biyombo is more intriguing, if only because the mistakes of the past have been painfully learned, and he would be a very cheap option who would be much more clear on his role on the team. Biyombo only made $2.9 million with the Phoenix Suns this season, and he could be gotten again for similar money on a one- or two-year deal.
The Magic could even make the second year a team option so as to give them more flexibility. We saw them do this in recent years with Robin Lopez, bringing in a veteran big man as the third center to bang in the paint for what the organization hopes will be a trip to the postseason next year.
Wendell Carter is a little bit injury-prone, and point guard Markelle Fultz continues to get the best out of the big men that the Magic put around him. Vucevic is likely too pricey and headed back to the Bulls anyway, but the team could do worse than see what the 31-year-old Biyombo could do in limited minutes.