Entering the offseason, everyone knew the Orlando Magic's options were limited. They did not have money to throw around and were essentially limited to minimum contracts only.
Nobody had the Magic making a big splash.
Still, the team had a lot of needs it needed to fill. It had a lot of positions and skills it needed to cover.
And nothing felt bigger than the need at point guard.
Questions about Jalen Suggs have persisted since the Magic insisted on using him as the lead guard. Anthony Black as the backup has not exactly inspired loads of confidence.
The Magic have had their most success with solid veteran stabilizers at point guard. Guys like Markelle Fultz, D.J. Augustin and Cory Joseph are not players who pop off the page. But they were stable. They ran and managed the team, scored when it came time to, and kept the team organized.
The Magic were at their best in this run when they had a veteran guard to keep the boat steady. Even if he was not the most impressive scorer.
It seemed like finding this was the biggest splash the Magic needed to make this offseason.
Finding the right point guard is still the biggest challenge facing the Magic. They are still looking for the right player to manage and stabilize the team.
They are also not making a big splash.
Orlando is set to retain Jevon Carter on a minimum contract, bringing back the point guard the team came to rely on last year after trading Tyus Jones at the deadline.
In Carter, the Magic get someone they are familiar with who is willing to shoot and play the tough defense the Magic like.
But they also leave a lot of questions, considering Carter did not crack the Magic's Playoff rotation. Orlando really did not touch the position that has the most questions on this roster. Leaving improvements, and perhaps bigger questions, for the future rather than the present.
Carter helped give offense some force
No one will pretend Jevon Carter is some gamechanger. With the Orlando Magic's limited cap space and tools, they were likely not going to make a big splash.
As things turn out, the Magic have spent only minimum contracts during this offseason free agency period.
Getting someone they know in Carter is at least some assurance. Orlando knows what Carter brings to the table, and it was mostly successful in his short stint with the team last season.
Carter appeared in 30 games for the Magic last season, averaging 7.2 points per game and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 33.6 percent from three and 40.2 percent overall.
Carter has made his name mostly as a tough, hard-nosed defender. That is really what the Magic were after.
But what stood out most about Carter was his aggressiveness. He was not afraid to shoot it.
In 30 games with the Magic, he took 10 or more field goals in six games. His willingness to just let it fly, and his ability to get shots off the dribble, were vital to a team missing in creators and players who wanted to shoot.
Carter sometimes got a little too much freedom. He would take shots and get out of the offensive flow. But that is part of a team that wanted everyone to make decisions with the ball. It is that by-committee, read-and-react approach of Jamahl Mosley's offense.
Carter is not a traditional point guard. He is not a passer by nature. But that is still something the Magic need.
Still questions at point guard
The fear about the Orlando Magic's offseason is that they would mostly run back the same roster.
Indeed, of the three reported free agent signings from Wednesday, two of them were on the team last year (Jonathan Isaac was the other). This team is still very much the same.
And Carter did not exactly solve the Magic's point guard problems last year.
Despite the positive things he provided, Carter ultimately did not play in the Playoffs, playing only 17 minutes in three games during the Playoffs. He got some substantial run in Game 6 in the first half, playing nine minutes, but the Magic did not fall back on him at all.
Carter plays tough and is a dogged defender. But he is small. And that left the Orlando Magic hesitant to use him against Cade Cunningham or even against some of the Detroit Pistons' point guards.
That was possibly a mistake by Jamahl Mosley. Carter could have had a role in the Playoffs. But there was also a reason he was available in the spring to begin with. Carter has his shortcomings for sure.
And ultimately, the biggest one is that the Magic still have major questions at point guard. They are still leaning on Jalen Suggs, who is coming off a career-high 5.5 assists per game but struggles to manage and organize the team. He also struggles with limiting his turnovers. And they are still leaning on Anthony Black to help with ball-handling.
That might put the playmaking responsibility heavily on Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner again. While that has some benefits. They also need some easier shots created for them, especially if the team gets deeper into the postseason.
The Magic really have no natural point guards. And the team still seems to need to address its point guard issues moving forward. It is a question that will linger for Orlando.
This is part of the problem of the Magic sticking with so much turnover, even after a season where the team struggled to meet expectations.
Orlando knows what it will get with Carter. But it is not exactly solving any problems.
This is already shaping up to be a season where the Magic must prove whether they actually work. Management has been overly generous with the opportunities this group has had to learn and grow together.
And it seems like point guard will once again be a huge question facing the Magic one way or another. The dynamics among that group are not changing, beyond the context of a new coach.
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