Friday was a stressful day for Orlando Magic fans.
One of the targets that Orlando Magic fans hoped they would be able to poach from a team desperately trying to cut salary to duck the tax was Oklahoma City Thunder guard Isaiah Joe.
The undersized guard had made his name as one of the NBA's best high-volume shooters off the bench. He played hard enough on defense to function with the Thunder. But Oklahoma City's battle against the tax made him a luxury the team could no longer afford.
Friday the Oklahoma City Thunder reportedly traded him to the Detroit Pistons for two second-round picks.
This immediately set off Magic fans wondering why they did not offer the same package to get such an elite shooter.
The answer to that question is the same as why the Thunder are trading him for nothing in the first place. The Magic are restricted from making deals like this because they are in the first apron. They cannot take on a player without sending out more money in return.
For the Pistons, then, it was good work. And taken in combination with the Pistons' surprising salary dump of Isaiah Stewart on Wednesday, it seems one of the Magic's biggest rivals is planning something big this summer.
The headlines are not all good for Detroit. Word leaked out that the Pistons are far away in early contract negotiations with Jalen Duren.
But something is up in Detroit. And what the Pistons do this offseason will likely define how far they can go. This is their last summer with significant cap flexibility. They will become very expensive after this season.
The Magic are only two summers removed from their last crack at free agency and cap room. A summer that did not net the team the results it hoped for and left the Magic scrambling to recover and maintain themselves as playoff contenders.
Even though the Magic ended up with Desmond Bane, it was a summer that set the team back. It seems the Pistons are not planning on squandering their last shot at a big summer. They are being aggressive, looking externally for improvements.
They are learning their lesson from one of their chief rivals.
The Magic's frustrating summer of 2024
The Orlando Magic entered the summer of 2024 with cap space for what they imagined would be the final time with this core group.
Orlando was set to give extensions to Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs that summer. Their rookie contracts were expiring. That is the natural point where teams start to become much more expensive.
Everyone was expecting an aggressive summer from Orlando, using the open cap space to set their books for when the team would be unable to sign new players so easily.
The Magic were considered winners in free agency when they signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a three-year, $66 million deal. It was an overpay. But Caldwell-Pope seemed to fit exactly what the Magic needed -- a shooter and defensive wing with championship experience.
Caldwell-Pope delivered with his leadership in the locker room and his defense. But his shot completely disappeared.
It turned into a head-scratching free agent failure. The Magic traded him, alongside Cole Anthony and four first-round picks, to acquire Desmond Bane, an acquisition that has worked out much better but came at a high cost.
The rest of that offseason was spent quite controversially.
The Magic mostly re-upped players already on their roster rather than trying to explore the free agent market or trade players into open cap space to improve the team.
That was the summer Wendell Carter signed a three-year, $58.7 million extension, a max extension for agreeing to one that early. That extension kicks in this season, with Carter making $18.1 million for the 2027 season.
Orlando then used the remaining cap room to sign Jonathan Isaac to a renegotiate and extend, upping his salary to $25 million in the final year of his contract, before settling into a four-year, $59 million extension that began last season.
Isaac has failed to live up to that extension and appears set to be cut after the team changed the trigger to guarantee his contract (reportedly) to June 28 (Sunday).
If there is a reason the Magic feel unable to make many moves or failed to take a big step forward, it is because this last crack at major moves in free agency did not go according to plan.
Injuries contributed to the struggles in the 2025 and 2026 seasons. But the Magic went from the 5-seed and one of the most promising young teams in the league to back-to-back Play-In qualifiers with an uncertain future and core.
Some of that is the bet on themselves has not panned out well so far.
Pistons are not settling
If the Orlando Magic spent their last free agency summer betting on themselves, the Detroit Pistons appear to be using it to be aggressive in seeking external improvements and fill in holes that cost them -- both in the series against Orlando and in the second round.
The Pistons are also coming off a 60-win season where they were the top seed. They feel much closer to the mountaintop and won a playoff series to better understand what their needs are.
They also know this is the summer to make those moves.
Jalen Duren is a restricted free agent this summer after making the All-NBA third team and Ausar Thompson is extension-eligible. The Pistons are about to become very expensive.
Duren's contract situation needs to be resolved before they do anything else. But Detroit enters the offseason with nearly $34 million in cap room, and that includes all options.
Duren's new salary will eat into much of that. But the room enabled them to acquire Isaiah Joe without taking back any salary, sending him directly either into cap room or their mid-level exception. The trade of Isaiah Stewart in the Memphis Grizzlies' cap room seemed to signal the Pistons were planning something big and freeing up room to go for something.
Detroit was a dark horse to acquire Tyler Herro in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade and to acquire Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics.
The Pistons were not only aggressive in maneuvering for cap space, but they also moved up in the NBA Draft to take Stanford point guard Ebuka Okorie. That is a team that is chasing more talent and using its last summer with cap room to be aggressive.
That is what the Magic did not elect to do with their big-cap summer. They stayed put, satisfied with what they had built. The Pistons are attacking and seeking to fill holes aggressively.
Like Orlando, Detroit's decisions this summer will determine how long the team can contend. And whether this more aggressive tact will ultimately work.
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