The members of the 2021 NBA Draft are starting to get paid.
Cade Cunningham, Scottie Barnes, Franz Wagner, and Evan Mobley all have secured their bags, getting max or near-max contracts this offseason, sometimes to much debate.
A lot of those deals were either obvious max candidates or deals that did not need much negotiating. They got done quickly. Teams tend to go big on the max contract after a rookie deal.
The ones that are not so clear-cut for the players who are not near that max tier are the ones that have to sweat before the deadline.
Jalen Suggs is one of those players. And he is one of those players who seems likely to get a deal done before the Oct. 21 deadline. The stars are still aligned for something to happen.
Experts still expect Suggs and the Magic to agree to an extension before the season
That is at least what Zach Lowe and Bobby Marks of ESPN believe from the latest episode of The Lowe Post. Lowe said he anticipates Suggs signing a deal worth $27-28 million per year considering the Magic's good will and their tendency to get deals of this nature done.
Lowe said he is a little bit surprised a deal has not been done yet. But it could just be a deadline thing where the pressure of a ticking clock pushes things over the finish line. The Magic did not get a deal done with Cole Anthony until Oct. 23, 2023, right at the deadline to get a deal done before the season.
The point is, there is still time to agree to a deal.
Jeff Weltman said during Summer League that he was hopeful they could get a deal done. Things seemed fairly close at that point. But then, quiet.
Deadlines do have a way of forcing things to happen. So perhaps negotiations were tabled until closer to training camp.
Everyone was anticipating a contract similar to Jaden McDaniels' five-year, $133.5 million deal (an annual average of $26.7 million that was agreed to last year). The sticking point may less be on the total and more on the structure considering the Magic love to front load contracts to maximize their flexibility moving forward. The Magic are likely happier to pay more now and try to leave some room later on in the contract when they will be paying a lot more for Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero.
That may be a small thing in the end. But something they have to negotiate still with Suggs and his representatives.
The team has every motivation to get a deal done though.
Suggs is as important as any player in the Magic's lineup. He is the heart and soul of the team in many ways. And figuring out how much to commit to him in a cap environment that is still fairly new considering how much the cap is anticipated to increase after the new TV deal kicks in next year is still difficult.
Everyone is still struggling to wrap their heads around the price tag of these players.
Jalen Suggs is an important part of the Magic’s future
It is also impossible to imagine this Magic team continuing their growth without Suggs as a firm part of their future. Even if Suggs did not agree to a deal, it is hard to imagine the Magic not matching any offer he might receive in restricted free agency.
Suggs will be a part of the team for the foreseeable future. There are probably just fine-tuning details to figure out to get a deal done.
The Magic likely want to get some sense of where Suggs is at beforehand though. That might also be part of the delay.
Suggs struggled through the first two seasons of his career thanks to injuries. His shooting specifically took a nose dive.
But last year, he was essential to the team. He took the responsibility of being the team's best defender and earned a spot on the All-Defensive team.
In 75 games, Suggs averaged a career-high 12.6 points per game and shot 39.7 percent from three. That kind of player is supremely important for the team.
Orlando hopes Suggs can at least repeat that performance. But the team also has to hope he can build into a third option for the team. They have to bet on his improvement.
The Magic are certainly going to pay him as if he is that third option on the team.
Orlando also spent its summer re-signing many of its players and maintaining its roster. Keeping Suggs would be essential to that goal for the upcoming season.
At a certain point, the Magic either believe in their players or they do not. That is why they could give Wagner his max deal. It is why re-signing Suggs is almost a sure thing in some capacity.
Importantly, there is no reason to wait on Suggs' free agency. Orlando gains no advantage next summer for free agency after spending so much this summer.
The Magic have $158.7 million committed to next season, including likely options they would pick up. The salary cap next year is likely to be $154.6 million. Orlando is already over the cap for next season. Suggs' contract would only take them closer to the luxury tax line.
But that is a price the team is absolutely going to pay. This is the team they are invested in. The Magic are not diverting course at all.
The only remaining question is when the Magic and Suggs come to a deal. Are they waiting to come back together at the start of camp to iron out the final pieces of a deal?
Only time will tell, of course. The clock is ticking toward that deadline as training camp approaches.