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What the Orlando Magic should do with their own free agents

Before the Orlando Magic get to free agency this weekend, they will have to first make some decisions on their own free agents and what they do with them will set up the rest of the summer.

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Before the Orlando Magic hit free agency this weekend, they have some key decisions to make about players on their own roster. What will they do with players like Moe Wagner?
Before the Orlando Magic hit free agency this weekend, they have some key decisions to make about players on their own roster. What will they do with players like Moe Wagner? / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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What the Orlando Magic should do with their own free agents

Mo Wagner—$8 Million Team Option

In one sense, the decision for Mo Wagner is a straightforward one.

He had a career season for the Orlando Magic last year, averaging 10.9 points per game and 4.3 rebounds per game as the team's backup center. He shot 60.1 percent from the floor and was one of the most efficient scorers around the basket and inside the arc in the league.

No player has embraced the opportunity with the Magic and ingrained himself into what the team is building quite like Wagner has.

Bringing him back is a no-brainer. And there is probably no scenario where Wagner is not back in a Magic uniform barring something unforeseeably crazy happening.

Getting Wagner back though could happen in a roundabout way.

In order for the Magic to maximize their cap room, declining the team option for Mo Wagner and Joe Ingles would free up $19 million in cap room. That is essentially the difference between the $30 million and $50 million in cap room the Magic have.

Because the Magic are using cap room to sign free agents, they have access to the Room Mid-Level Exception worth $8 million. This mechanism allows for teams that use cap room to sign free agents the ability to sign players to an extra $8 million to go over the salary cap.

Essentially, the Magic could decline the team option for Wagner and then bring him back on a new deal worth the same amount. They can have their cap space cake and eat it too.

This is what most people are expecting to happen. The question is whether the Magic know they will need this room.

The Magic have to decide on Wagner's option on June 29 (the deadline for most of these decisions). That will sort of be the Magic's Groundhog Day.

If the Magic pick up the team option on Wagner, then expect a quieter and more moderate summer. If they decline that team option, expect the Magic to be working on at least one major contract in free agency.

In either case, it is set up for Wagner to return to Orlando one way or the other.

Prediction: Magic decline team option, re-sign Wagner using Room MLE

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