Orlando Magic 2023 Free Agency Day Power Rankings
The big day is finally here for the Orlando Magic.
The floodgates will open to all kinds of transactions as free agency gets going and teams aim to complete their rosters.
The Magic have long expected to be an active team in free agency. They were one of the few teams with significant cap room with the ability to create more. While few expected the Magic to push a lot of chips into the middle of the table, the team had the chance to throw some muscle around.
At the very least, this seemed like an opportunity to shore up the team’s depth some and prepare the Magic with internal competition and decision-making for what they hope would be a playoff run.
That room has quickly shrunk though.
The Orlando Magic are walking a narrow path as they prepare for free agency. So now we rank all the options the Magic have in front of him from the realistic to the retired pipe dreams.
The Magic ended up using both draft picks on guards by selecting Anthony Black and Jett Howard. That will prevent the team from being short on point guards like they were last year when they started the season 5-20. And Howard provides the team with some necessary shooting.
It seemed to put the team’s offseason focus on shoring up the frontcourt — although the Magic could always use more shooting.
The decision to retain Goga Bitadze and pick up his team option did not constrict the Magic financially — they still have a little more than $21 million in cap room — but it did constrict their roster space.
Orlando has only one roster spot open to spend. They have guaranteed the final year of Gary Harris and Markelle Fultz’s deals. We still await word on what the Magic will do with the final year of Bol Bol’s $2.2 million contract. Jonathan Isaac has only $7 million of his $17 million contract guaranteed, but that guarantee date is not until January.
The Magic can still be players in free agency and they can still work themselves free using their cap space. As everyone may be suspecting, the Magic with an overload of guards and wings and a dearth of big men and few roster spots to give out could very well have the conditions for a major trade this offseason.
For now, though, we will focus on free agency and who the targets will be.
While the team certainly still needs shooting, it is our belief that the frontcourt is where the team will focus a lot of its free-agent attention. With one roster spot open, the Magic probably need to look for some versatility and players who can play both post positions.
As we did before the Draft, we are going to power rank the Magic’s free agent options and who they might be pursuing on this opening day of free agency (or who they might be lying in wait for as the market sets itself and the Magic look to strike).
Again, keep in mind because the Magic likely have excess cap room, they can take back more money than they send out in trades if that is the route they pursue this offseason.