The Osceola Magic may be helping the Orlando Magic complete their training camp roster

The G-League is a funny thing in the NBA. It is a minor league system, but it is not a straight minor league system.

NBA teams will send their young players to the G-League to get seasoning and playing time when it is not available on the main roster like the Orlando Magic did with Jett Howard last year. They may use the G-League for rehab assignments for long-term injuries, as the Magic did with Jonathan Isaac before his return two years ago.

Then, of course, there are the two-way players. Those players are primarily G-League players limited to 50 appearances on the active roster for the parent club.

It is not a true minor league system though. The G-League teams have to acquire their own set of players who are not controlled by the parent club. They have to build their own rosters and their own teams.

They may run a lot of the same sets and use the same terminology as their parent club, but they operate quasi-independently. And they could lose many of their players to the call of any NBA team at any point.

And then there is symbiotic relationship that occurs this time of year.

To help build their roster, the parent club often agrees to Exhibit 10 deals to give more money and a look at an NBA training camp before players agree to deals to play in the G-League for that team's affiliate.

The Magic should be an especially enticing team for high-level G-League prospects. They do not have a roster spot to compete for in camp, but they do have two two-way slots open for players. And the Magic seem to be working already to fill those final two spots—and boost an Osceola Magic team that finished first int he Eastern Conference.

Just look at the flurry of moves Osceola has made recently.

You see, the Magic cannot simply grab any G-League player they want. Other G-League teams might hold their G-League returning player rights. And so September usually sees a flurry of moves as teams exchange returning player rights so that they can sign Exhibit 10 deals for NBA training camps and then join their new G-Lague teams after camp ends.

The Osceola Magic have done a few of these moves as the Orlando Magic ponder both how to fill their G-League team and fill those final two roster spots.

Fans likely flocked to the move earlier this week when Shams Charania reported the Magic agreed to a partially guaranteed deal with G-League MVP Mac McClung. Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel later confirmed it was an Exhibit 10 deal, meaning that McClung would go through training camp with the Magic for the second straight year.

That this is his second year with the team suggests he may have an inside track at nabbing one of the two-way spots. But the Osceola Magic already held his rights -- after he averaged 25.2 point sper game and 5.9 assists per game last year.

That Osceola made two other moves suggests they were doing work to help the Magic fill out the rest of their training camp roster.

The big move came Friday when Osceola acquired the returning player rights for Javonte Smart, trading away Miye Oni (who was an Exhibit 10 player for the Magic last year). Former Magic guard R.J. Hampton was also involved in the deal, heading to the Delaware Blue Coats, the Philadelphia 76ers' G-League affiliate.

Smart is certainly a candidate to win a two-way contract and is almost certainly signing an Exhibit 10 deal to be part of the Magic's training camp.

Smart appeared in 18 games across the last three seasons (playing in only two, to maintain his two-way eligibility). He has scored 51 points in 201 minutes throughout his career, shooting 19 for 60 (31.7 percent) overall in the NBA.

In the G-League last year for the Blue Coats, Smart averaged 20.9 points per game and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 42.4 percent from three. Smart has averaged at least 20.0 points per game in two of his three G-League seasons. He is a career 40.3 percent 3-point shooter (shooting 39.6 percent and 37.5 percent from three in his first two seasons).

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound guard seems like a good fit for what the Magic want to do and would certainly boost Osceola's prospects, while also being a solid option alongside Trevelin Queen as a two-way option (that is two smallish wing guards if that is what the Magic want to do).

But this is a big acquisition for the Osceola Magic. And Green almost certainly is the caliber of player the Orlando Magic would want in training camp at least on an Exhibit 10.

Osceola also swapped the returning player rights to Daeqwon Plowden to the College Park SkyHawks for the returning player rights of Robert Baker. This move may be more about Plowden for the Atlanta Hawks than Baker for the Magic, but Baker has been a solid G-League player.

He is at least familiar to the Magic, having last played in the G-League for the Lakeland Magic in 2023 and went to training camp with them in the fall of 2022. He averaged 14.7 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game last year for the SkyHawks before joining the Hawks' Summer League team this year. He averaged 9.2 points per game and 5.0 rebounds per game in five appearances.

Plowden is the better player—Osceola also got a second-round pick for their troubles. Plowden averaged 13.8 points per game and shot 40.0 percent from three last year with the Magic. But Baker has proven himself a solid G-League player and he should be an Exhibit 10 option in camp for an additional big.

The Osceola Magic have been busy building their rosters. And they may be helping the Orlando Magic finalize their roster.

This is all to say, the Magic's training camp roster is starting to come together as everyone counts the days to Oct. 1.