RealGM

Here's my understanding of ORL's strong salary cap situation for the summer. I am lacking in my understanding of cap holds, etc and would like to be able to bore you all with more accurate bad trades & FA signings I'm putting it out there for all to correct and refine for each other...Please correct misstatements.

IF Orlando doesn't keep ANY of it's free agents, they could have up to a total of $28.2 m in available cap space this summer. I'm not even including Iggy, Admiral, Cannady, etc because if we're still talking about them, we've got bigger problems. I hope we keep Moe Wagner, but I'm not letting that get in the way of more meaningful stuff.

Also, TRoss will be an expiring $11.5m and clearly wants out...due to his garbage year, we should not expect any cap relief or significant return for him. Honestly, my favorite TRoss scenario is him being rejuvenated by a strong summer by the FO and he contributes next year or, at least, raises his TD value.

The major free agent holds/decisions are...

Gary Harris UFA...'21-22 salary $20.5m
Mo Bamba RFA...$10.1 QO
Robin Lopez UFA...'21-22 salary $5m
Bol Bol RFA...$2.7m QO

*The salary slot for the #2 pick in the draft (just a projection) is $9.2m...I believe we can go over the cap (sign other FA's first) to sign our draft picks...assuming ownership blesses this direction. I don't anticipate ORL going over cap unless something REALLY significant happens, like Ayton or Mitchell moves-which I don't think is our FO mentality.

Here's a fairly conservative but somewhat interesting scenario for the summer...

Sign Victor Oladipo for slightly more than the MLE (otherwise, he's going to a playoff team). Make it a two or three year deal(third year as TO) with as massive a descending scale as possible. We have to spend money this summer, so look at it like a Jeff Green thing (overpaying but not too significantly affecting future flexibility). This is assuming his medicals look good and he welcomes the chance to reclaim his All-Star leadership role for a young team-as opposed to ring chasing. He's mentally prepared to lead and inspire the way he learned from the WestBeast in mid-career after wasting clumsy development years under Hennigan's AAU program. He and the Magic could be "the" story in the NBA next year if it works out.

Re-sign Gary Harris to a similar deal (as needed). If he continues the trajectory he was on, he's returning to his classic 3&D level- the one that got him the big deal in DEN. He may already be up for bigger offers, but nobody has that kind of money to spend on him. Again, stress the descending, very tradable terms Weltman loves. This is assuming that he likes the group and the trajectory and his role, which should be significant and become less as the young guys grow.

This one's tougher...re-sign Mo Bamba to a team-friendly deal, right around his QO. I think he showed enough to generate some MLE-level offers around the league. If we can keep him on another descending scale, very tradable deal, he's a very solid backup to WCJ and (hopefully) Isaac. Best scenario, he takes another big step in toughness, IQ, rebounding and earns a bigger role...I'm not willing to bet on that, but I'd hate to lose him for nothing...Maybe a sign and trade for at least a TPE if somebody wants to pay more than we are.

Draft the new best player on the team at whatever spot we land...A guy who can score. I honestly don't know where Cole or RJ fits, perhaps they are packaged with TRoss for something...or we just hope for continued growth from Cole-who was certainly our best player on some nights-maybe he's the guy that Oladipo really takes under his wing. He's better than a 3rd string PG, but not yet ready for a leading PG role, IMO. The lineup below still has us overloaded with ball-dominant guards, but that's what we have.

WCJ/Isaac
Jabari or Banchero/Isaac/Moe
Franz/Okeke/TRoss
Oladipo/Harris/Hampton
Fultz/Suggs/Cole

I believe this is a relatively bold but also not too frightening direction, given our summer flexibility. If things fall right, we're a young playoff team with veteran leadership, still holding extra picks and potential...without hamstringing our cap for long. I'd much rather read that we're trading picks and players for Mitchell and signing Ayton but I doubt either of those is happening.

The Salary cap was $112M this season. I think only one team was under it, OKC.
The more important number is luxury tax. Next year the cap is at $128, and tax line at $149. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's the easy way to look at it.

We have plenty of money to spend. Not saying we should. They need to be looking at maximizing our available payroll for the 23-24 or 24-25 seasons.