Orlando Magic are well positioned for future even after slow offseason

The Orlando Magic entered the offseason with tons of potential and ambition.

Fans and rumors had long discussed the Magic as a potential landing spot for a former champion and Hall of Famer like Klay Thompson. The team got connected to Paul George late in the process too.

With a team that had just made the playoffs and had one of the best young players in the league in Paolo Banchero and another budding star in Franz Wagner, it seemed like the Magic were entering a different class of transactions. It felt like some doors and opportunities might open to them that they had not seen.

Never mind that when the Magic have had cap room in the past, they typically went for splashy moves, whether it was clearing enough cap room to sign Horace Grant in 1994, going for broke and signing Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill in 2000, signing Rashard Lewis in 2007, or splurging on Bismack Biyombo, D.J. Augustin and Jeff Green in 2016.

They cannot all work out, right? But the Magic have typically spent their summers with cap room adding vital players to their future.

Some people were disappointed with the Magic's offseason then. They added another veteran with championship experience as they did with Horace Grant in 1994 by signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a three-year, $66-million deal.

But there were no splashy moves and no aggressive trades. The Magic added a starter in Caldwell-Pope, but then worked to retain almost all of their remaining free agents, only letting Markelle Fultz and Joe Ingles walk in free agency.

There is the feeling the Magic let an opportunity pass them by. With all the contracts they have signed, Franz Wagner's max contract and impending deals for Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs, the Magic are projected over the salary cap for the foreseeable future. The Magic are over the projected 2026 salary cap even before they handle Suggs' new deal.

Orlando will not be playing free agency much more beyond using the mid-level exception.

But that is not a reason for panic or despair either. The Magic are still considered one of the teams in the best position to make moves and shift the roster in the near future.

If Orlando was hesitant to do the splashy move this offseason it was because of Jeff Weltman's value in continuity and keeping stability for a young roster, because of the team's success and steady progress without facing any roadblocks, and because the opportunity to make a splashy move was not there in a summer light on free agents.

The truth is now, the Magic are loaded with capital to make the next phase of their rebuild and improve their roster.

HoopsHype ranked the Magic with the sixth-best cache of assets, praising how cheap and young the team is despite already breaking through to the playoffs. They have all of their draft picks and a well-managed cap to set up their future. And plenty of room to continue growing internally.

The important thing is the Magic have the ability still to make big moves at the deadline or the offseason. What some saw as quiet from the Magic with the cap room they had was actually preparation for the next phase of the team's development.

And the Magic are set up well to make those moves and set up better after this offseason.

It's all about trades

The Orlando Magic entered the 2024 offseason as one of the few teams with cap room. That immediately got them connected to some of the top free agents in the class. But those options were scant. And the Magic in acquiring Kentavious Caldwell-Pope still made one of the biggest moves.

What has become a truth in the NBA now is that player movement does not happen in free agency as much. It is all about trades.

While the Magic could have always used cap room to absorb excess salary in a trade, that likely would have cost them some of their draft stash if not one of their rotation players.

The Magic had entering the offseason was they had few tradeable contracts.

Orlando entered the offseason with only three contracts worth $10 million or more. Paolo Banchero was one of those contracts. Wendell Carter and Jonathan Isaac were the others.

It was hard to imagine the Magic parting with Carter without getting a better starting center option in return. Isaac had a lot of promise but was still a fairly uncertain player—the Magic ended up signing him to a unique extension this offseason.

Most of the mock trades involving the Magic had the Magic sending out some combination of Wendell Carter, Jonathan Isaac, Jalen Suggs, or Cole Anthony (whose three-year, $39.1-million extension kicks in this season). Orlando was not willing to part with Suggs quite clearly. And in a tight center market, there was no clear replacement for dealing Carter.

In other words, there was not a lot for the Magic to offer to match salaries. Any major deal they would have made would have cost them more draft capital. And then such a trade would have cut into one of its greatest strengths—its depth—without a clear way to improve other parts of the roster.

Instead, the Magic spent the offseason building up this trade capital.

Entering the 2025 season, the Magic have six contracts worth $10 million or more and two contracts worth $20 million or more. In terms of matching salaries to add that third star or that next big player, this makes things considerably easier.

On top of this, the Magic also have depth behind those players and any secondary players the they might trade. If Orlando traded Harris and his $7.5 million contract, they have Jett Howard to help fill in.

Adding onto that as well, the Magic have set those contracts up to be advantageous.

Moritz Wagner and Gary Harris reportedly waived their implicit no-trade clauses with their new deals. Caldwell-Pope has a player option on the final year of his deal which pays the most money in the first year. Cole Anthony has a team option in the final year of his extension.

The Magic's renegotiate-and-extend with Jonathan Isaac upped his salary this year but is front-loaded at $15 million in the 2026 season. And it comes with non-guarantees based on games played.

Orlando's contracts are all pretty favorable. And pretty movable when that right player and trade comes around.

The Draft Stash

The other part of that formula is how important draft picks are in making any deal happen. It seems to make any deal happen, it requires multiple draft picks.

The Magic not wanting to go all-in held tight to their cache of draft picks. And that is considerable.

The Orlando Magic do not owe any teams any picks and hold the Denver Nuggets' 2025 first-round pick. That is a lot of future capital to spend. It also might push the Magic to make a move using that draft pick either at the deadline or next year in a much stronger draft.

Orlando Magic are not one of the teams that controls the draft—like the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and Utah Jazz do. But the Magic are one of the few teams that have retained most of their draft capital.

Orlando may not have a stash of extra picks to use, but the team still has a lot of flexibility and this arrow in their quiver to make significant improvements.

While there may be frustration with the Magic's apparent lack of activity this offseason with all the opportunity that seemed ahead of them, they actually positioned themselves better for the kind of splashy move everyone expected from the Magic this.

It may have been a comparatively slow offseason. But it was one that positioned the Magic better for the next big move when it comes and for the right player when they become available.