Evan Fournier Extension

[cwas2882]

Good afternoon fellow Magic fans!

After this season, Evan Fournier is eligible to be a free agent (restricted, I believe) after this season. His current salary is ~2.2 mil this upcoming season. With the cap jump, what do you see as a realistic extension offer for him?

With the money going around this past offseason and what is coming up, is it unreasonable that someone could offer him around $9 million per year?

Zach Lowe wrote a little bit about the class of 2012 and the money they are about to get.

Evan Fournier: He shouldn’t ever start for a good team, but Fournier is a career 38 percent 3-point shooter with some playmaking guile and the guts to sport ridiculous hairstyles. Use him as a primary ball handler and your offense is toast. Stick him on the wing while someone else does the heavy drive-and-kick lifting, and Fournier can do damage slicing into a scrambled defense. He can play multiple positions on both ends, though he probably tops out as an average defender.

He’s just a useful guy to have around, and useful guys are about to get a ton of money. Orlando should see what it would take to preempt that, even if it starts throwing around numbers near the $7 million-per-year deal Jae Crowder just signed with Boston.

Bonus question, what would be too much for us to resign him?

[Magic_Johnny12]

Let him play 25+ minutes a night, prove his worth and showcase his ability and trade him at the deadline.

[orlando1214]

Let him play 25+ minutes a night, prove his worth and showcase his ability and trade him at the deadline.

I rather keep him, depth is a good thing, and Fournier is a fantastic bench player. I really don't think his contract is going to be an issue at all, and even if it eventually becomes one, I don't think he'll be too difficult to move. I still think his contract won't be a problem though and I think he's here for a long time, and I hope that's the case because I really like Fournier and I think he has a lot of potential.

[ralphie9898]

yeah right now I would put it around 6-8 mill per year. He could get more as a free agent though. Extensions can get guys signed to lower amounts as we saw with Vuc and then with Harris. I think Evan is pretty much a good backup. I wouldn't mind keeping him around but I also must say that if a trade offer comes up that is good for us then you have to consider trading him. There are very few if any guys that I would say are un-tradeable in this league and that changes as time goes on.

[Orlwillbeback]

Im a bit concerned that his numbers havent managed to improve in 3 years but yea we should definitely pay to keep him around. Hes one of those guys with a higher floor and lower ceiling but as long as he shoots, plays defense and still is 6 foot 7 id say keep him around.

[Orlwillbeback]

With that said i think it would be wise for us to extend him this offseason before waiting.

[OrlandoNed]

With that said i think it would be wise for us to extend him this offseason before waiting.

There is no harm in waiting. He's not going to improve his value that much in 1 year behind Oladipo and battling Hezonja for minutes. Let him earn his next contract.

[Orlwillbeback]

With that said i think it would be wise for us to extend him this offseason before waiting.

There is no harm in waiting. He's not going to improve his value that much in 1 year behind Oladipo and battling Hezonja for minutes. Let him earn his next contract.

No i think we can get him for around 6m right now and i think wed be wise to give him a 3 yr 17 to 19m deal. We can likely get him cheaper now as i believe hes earned it and we need to keep our guys together

[ezzzp]

$6-8m extension sounds good from the Magic pov .... but I highly doubt Fournier settles for that, especially considering his role limits on this roster. The two salary cap jumps over the next two season (90m/110m) are perfectly timed for him to capitalize on the free money.

If the Magic really want to secure him they'll have to pay a disproportionate amount. $8-10m if he doesn't reach Restricted Free Agency, otherwise he'll get more than that in an open market.

[LBPTarHeel27]

If you are Fournier, why would you want an extension? His value is pretty minimal right now, due to an injury-plagued-up-and-down season. He has done enough to show that he belongs in the league...but not that he deserves much of a contract. If you are Fournier, wouldn't you rather have the opportunity to (hopefully) have a fully healthy season and then hit the open market? If he has a good year, he gets paid. If his role is limited, he signs a short term deal somewhere that will let him play. Maybe we match, maybe we don't...but it is still a better option.

[Orlwillbeback]

If you are Fournier, why would you want an extension? His value is pretty minimal right now, due to an injury-plagued-up-and-down season. He has done enough to show that he belongs in the league...but not that he deserves much of a contract. If you are Fournier, wouldn't you rather have the opportunity to (hopefully) have a fully healthy season and then hit the open market? If he has a good year, he gets paid. If his role is limited, he signs a short term deal somewhere that will let him play. Maybe we match, maybe we don't...but it is still a better option.

Alot of players want the security of an extension however.

[AddiFB]

I hope we somehow manage to keep him as a member of our core going forward. A really nice piece to our bench mob. I like the guy a lot. We need to keep the samurai!

Solid piece to our bench mob.

[Nemesis21]

We the way the cap is going up, I think somewhere around 4/$36M is fair for both sides.

[tooler]

Evan might hold out to see if anyone offers him a starting role or something. I suspect both sides will throw out "if you really want to" numbers (like 6 for us, 10 for Evan) and amicably go to free agency.

[the_hobo]

As a typical anti-hero on this board, I must say I do like Mr Champagne. I like his energy and he's got a lot of talent. I don't think he deserves more than 7 a year though; I'd compare his value to what we had in JJ when the bulls offered him a contract

[Def Swami]

I think he'll bet on himself and hit free agency next season. I also imagine that he'll have a pretty good year and get a $10 mill+ offer from some team looking for a shooting guard with an opportunity to start. I really like his game and his compliment to the rest of our guys, but I anticipate him being trade bait throughout the season. If no offers are out there, I think the Magic would be wise to settle for a $30 mill/3 year deal with him. He may have gotten $21 mill/years under the old cap, but I think he gets a bump due to ensuing inflation.

[seeingstars]

I really hope we secure him with an extension. If we want to truly build something lasting, then tiring up our arguably best bench player is a must. I remember him saying that "only stars get extensions" so hopefully Rob offers one as a nice nod to how the organization feels about him. He may never be a STAR but someone once said you treat role players like stars and stars like role players. Listening to everyone is a must and I just feel letting Evan go would be a big hit to our core and I do believe he is part of our core and felt so even before our staff came out and mentioned it.

[ezzzp]

As a typical anti-hero on this board, I must say I do like Mr Champagne. I like his energy and he's got a lot of talent. I don't think he deserves more than 7 a year though; I'd compare his value to what we had in JJ when the bulls offered him a contract

The Magic matched JJ's $6.7m per / 3 year offer sheet when the salary cap was 58 million (8.65% of total cap).

Next summer the salary cap will be $90 million...so a similar deal to JJ's is at $7.8 million per year. But the following year the cap goes up to $110 million, so the annual salary proportions to $9.5 million.

Using your logic - comparing him to JJ's contract - then his contract should be somewhere between $7.8m to $9.5 million per year. Which is pretty close to what many are saying (between $8-10 million).

[BadMofoPimp]

Fournier could still end up a solid starter in the NBA by the time he is in his mid to late 20's. Anything around $7-10 mil may be his price range. I would pay it to keep an asset for future of the team or for future trade asset.

[JF5]

Someone is going to pay him 11-15 Million and the Magic won't do it (Rightfully so)...

He's a solid starter in this league...