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Who would the Orlando Magic protect and expose in a 2025 expansion draft?

Expansion is coming to the NBA. Not this summer or any time soon. But the league is signaling more than ever that they will add two new teams, adding a new wrinkle into the Orlando Magic's future plans.

By Philip Rossman-Reich

The NBA is getting set to expand in the very near future. As everyone prepares for the idea, who would the Orlando Magic protect in a mock expansion draft?
The NBA is getting set to expand in the very near future. As everyone prepares for the idea, who would the Orlando Magic protect in a mock expansion draft? / Justin Ford/GettyImages
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Tier 2: Too Important to Let Go

4. Wendell Carter
5. Jonathan Isaac
6. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

No team would ever leave their core players unprotected. Those players go without saying. There are also players on the roster that are probably too important to leave exposed in an expansion draft.

Most of the offseason has been spent pitching a lot of trade ideas involving the Orlando Magic. Almost all of them involve Wendell Carter as one of the few movable contracts on the team. Admittedly, his spot is the one that is most in danger.

But every trade idea looking at Carter seems to forget one thing: The Magic need a starting center. And Carter is still their best option.

While Orlando has a lot to consider with Carter this year and he needs a bounceback from an injury-filled season, Carter is still a solid option to fill the role. And the Magic would not risk losing a player who (for now, at least) is on a favorable contract for nothing in an expansion draft.

That same principle of having a player seemingly on a below-market contract who feels vital to elevating the Magic is why they would also protect Jonathan Isaac.

This summer Isaac signed a unique renegotiate-and-extend contract that upped his salary to $25 million but signed him for roughly $15 million for the next four years. That is less than what he made in his last contract and will be a considerably lower hit as the salary cap rises under the league's new TV rights deal.

Considering Isaac is such a game-changer on defense. He is someone who gives the Magic a unique edge. There is simply no other player that does the things that Isaac does. And the Magic would be foolish to expose that to an expansion draft.

At least if it were next year. With the injury protections baked into his contract, maybe that changes in a few years.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also has a ton of value for the Magic at this point. His shooting will be his biggest addition to the team in his first year.

Orlando though invested in him and picked him out as the player they wanted to add to the roster. They clearly view him as important enough entering this upcoming season.

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