Jonathan Isaac Contract Extension Details

[Knightro]

Since the other thread was locked. Let's keep this strictly about Isaac's new contract please.

So the Magic don't have quite as much control over the process as we thought, but Isaac does need to play in over 63% of the games to trigger the guarantees in the next season in years 2, 3 and 4 (to trigger years 3, 4 and 5).

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[eyriq]

My official position on this is that buying low when we could have sold high is probably the sucker's choice. I think I would prefer to not have his availability issues hanging over my head. Going from zero guaranteed money to $48 million in guaranteed money is wild work.

On the flip side I could be wrong. He is a massive wild card for us and if he hits... He was a key driver of our improvement.

[Knightro]

$14.75M AAV over the next four seasons after this one is worth it even if he only plays in 58 games and plays 16 MPG in each of those seasons like he did this past year.

He's that impactful defensively. The most impactful defensive player in the league on a per minute basis and it's not really close.

$14.75M is gonna be less than the mid level in literally this time next summer, ya know?

[Def Swami]

After knowing the details, that's a really good deal for us.

[Residual-Heat]

Its perfect. JI gets his money upfront while we still have cap space. IF he somehow stays healthy it could be the best contract in the league.

[drsd]

As I said in the other thread, the non-guaranteed years ensure that Isaac won't have a cap hold of 28.5M in any given year. That is genius from management. That makes so much sense moving forward; always having a plus-one year that is a team option (of some sort).

Thinking out loud: isn't every free agent contract this year with such a plus-one? Genius if so. No cap-hold.

This is the best salary-cap hack I can recall.

[fateis007]

My official position on this is that buying low when we could have sold high is probably the sucker's choice. I think I would prefer to not have his availability issues hanging over my head. Going from zero guaranteed money to $48 million in guaranteed money is wild work.

On the flip side I could be wrong. He is a massive wild card for us and if he hits... He was a key driver of our improvement.

He hit last year and and we become a top 2 defense. It's a no brainer to lock him up on what will basically be the MLE in 2 years.

There is no reward without risk, you can't just put him on the free market and risk someone giving him 25 mill a year for 5 years for a DPOY guy. Look at Harts contract for a single good playoffs run.

[damo[23]]

My official position on this is that buying low when we could have sold high is probably the sucker's choice. I think I would prefer to not have his availability issues hanging over my head. Going from zero guaranteed money to $48 million in guaranteed money is wild work.

On the flip side I could be wrong. He is a massive wild card for us and if he hits... He was a key driver of our improvement.

For me, I am thinking this feels a bit like a low risk, high(er) reward kind of deal. We are taking a risk on if he can stay on the court for a prolonged period of time over a few years - however, that risk doesn't cost THAT much. But the pay off for the defensive player I do see as worth it.

Hopefully, touch wood, he's not just having a on again off again relationship with the IR listings for the next few years.

I really do like this group, I've been watching a bit more Magic again over the past couple of years, and JI has been a guy I just want to see more of.

[orlando_joe]

this season does not matter at all smart move..after this season only 1.5 yrs guaranteed and 15 a yr for 4 yrs is very solid..if he plays 60 games and playoffs 16-20 min ...almost every playoff team would take that 4 yr deal he will be on

[eyriq]

My official position on this is that buying low when we could have sold high is probably the sucker's choice. I think I would prefer to not have his availability issues hanging over my head. Going from zero guaranteed money to $48 million in guaranteed money is wild work.

On the flip side I could be wrong. He is a massive wild card for us and if he hits... He was a key driver of our improvement.

For me, I am thinking this feels a bit like a low risk, high(er) reward kind of deal. We are taking a risk on if he can stay on the court for a prolonged period of time over a few years - however, that risk doesn't cost THAT much. But the pay off for the defensive player I do see as worth it.

Hopefully, touch wood, he's not just having a on again off again relationship with the IR listings for the next few years.

I really do like this group, I've been watching a bit more Magic again over the past couple of years, and JI has been a guy I just want to see more of.

Hmmm, yeah that's fair. The upside is ridiculous. Weltman seems to like these types of bets, too, e.g., Fultz and now Isaac.

[fendilim]

Really good deal especially if he is able to playout the whole contract. Possible all league first team on a 12 million deal.

[GelbeWand09]

My official position on this is that buying low when we could have sold high is probably the sucker's choice. I think I would prefer to not have his availability issues hanging over my head. Going from zero guaranteed money to $48 million in guaranteed money is wild work.

On the flip side I could be wrong. He is a massive wild card for us and if he hits... He was a key driver of our improvement.

If he stays healthy you got a top 30-40 impact player on below leaque average salary. Its more than worth the risk and the chance anything you get for him comes even near is almost zero, because his worth is muuuuuuch lower than his oncourt impact, due to his injury history.
Makes even less sense for us because they went all in on defense and ignored the offense. Without him we are still a bottom 10 offense but probably not a top 8-10 defense anymore.

[bigdogdylan5]

My official position on this is that buying low when we could have sold high is probably the sucker's choice. I think I would prefer to not have his availability issues hanging over my head. Going from zero guaranteed money to $48 million in guaranteed money is wild work.

On the flip side I could be wrong. He is a massive wild card for us and if he hits... He was a key driver of our improvement.

You keep saying that 0 to 48 but honestly that’s not true. Do you think there was any way after last year we release him this summer? I guess he could have an off the court injury before we have to guarantee his full year but still there are normally contract stuff for dealing with off court injuries. So we had 17 million effectively guaranteed. We had 25 million in cap space left and nothing to do with it. I think using it that way was pretty smart to give him a balloon payment this year and just max decrease it. If it he gets injured there are ways out of the deal. Which is literally the only downside because he is worth more than what he is being paid if he is healthy.

[JoshuaPotter]

A healthy JI would be a monster and paid accordingly. In a way, this is a deal that compromises risk, gets him paid something to stay in the areas he is comfortable with, and we will likely try the whole ho-hum player injury risk assessment this season. Making no mistake, his impact, if put in one word is; astounding. Defensively too, he just got better because of the KCP signing.

[jonbob17]

Money this year is just a sunk cost, if we weren’t going to use it. $15M a year going forward seems perfectly reasonable, even if we are only getting 60-65 games and 18 minutes. To be honest unless Isaac really shows he can handle a larger load, I’d rather have him out there at 100% disrupter during the critical parts of the game.

This deal made so much sense, given the risk of losing him
For nothing or a s&t next summer. If he made it through this season healthy and effective someone was going to overpay next season, we see hardly any difference makers are available in free agency. There would have been 29 other teams trying to acquire JI.

Injury is the big if.

[Fortune Teller]

Let's check in on how Isaac is doing after his contract extension that upped his salary to $25 mil this season:

29.2% FG%
25.0% 3PT%
62.5% FT%

13.8 mpg
4.6 ppg
3.6 rpg
0.4 apg
1.0 spg
0.8 bpg

Good stuff! Another gem of a move in the Summer of '24 by Welt-Man!

[eyriq]

Outside of drafting Paolo, Franz, Suggs, AB, and TdS I've not liked Weltman's moves. It just so happens that drafting the core is the 80% impact and the rest is relatively background noise so I don't really care.