BREAKING: Magic acquire Desmond Bane (KCP, Cole + 4 1st Round Picks + 1 1st Round Pick Swap)

[Knightro]

So to my earlier question on whether or not you would rather have Jonathan Isaac or a MLE signing…

Based on Weltman’s comments on 96.9, I guess the better question to be asking now is would you rather have Moe Wagner back or a MLE signing?

Because that at this point seems like the choice. The Magic can decline those team options and use the mid-level, but then they wouldn’t have $$$ left for Moe because they’d be hard capped.

Ideally you keep Moe and restructure his deal. He’s currently the best and only reliable option on offense pre-draft.

You move Isaac, sign someone at MLE, and draft a big 4/5 to fill in and play backup. TDS also exists still on this roster and he’s not unplayable to backup Paolo for 12-15mpg.

Yeah, it’s gonna be interesting. I mean it seems like they would need Moe’s scoring off the bench since the bench right now looks like it’s going to lack a scoring punch, but maybe they use the 25th pick on a big. Or maybe they use the MLE on Portis.

Using the mid-level hard capping them at the first apron is going to make a challenging to retain Moe unless they put Isaac or Jett. And punting Jett might not give them enough money still.

[AdamTheGreek]

Moritz was a legit top-3 Sixth Man award candidate before he got injured. You don’t walk away from that.
I will be stunned if after we decline to team option that he’s not later in the summer signed to a multi-year deal. The negotiation could get ugly because of the injury and that he won’t be available to start the season, but I expect Mo to be here.

[VFX]

So to my earlier question on whether or not you would rather have Jonathan Isaac or a MLE signing…

Based on Weltman’s comments on 96.9, I guess the better question to be asking now is would you rather have Moe Wagner back or a MLE signing?

Because that at this point seems like the choice. The Magic can decline those team options and use the mid-level, but then they wouldn’t have $$$ left for Moe because they’d be hard capped.

Ideally you keep Moe and restructure his deal. He’s currently the best and only reliable option on offense pre-draft.

You move Isaac, sign someone at MLE, and draft a big 4/5 to fill in and play backup. TDS also exists still on this roster and he’s not unplayable to backup Paolo for 12-15mpg.

Yeah, it’s gonna be interesting. I mean it seems like they would need Moe’s scoring off the bench since the bench right now looks like it’s going to lack a scoring punch, but maybe they use the 25th pick on a big. Or maybe they use the MLE on Portis.

Using the mid-level hard capping them at the first apron is going to make a challenging to retain Moe unless they put Isaac or Jett. And punting Jett might not give them enough money still.

I’ll admit I’m not too well versed on the MLE options. But I’d rather personally go for a more seasoned player in the back court with it and draft a big if it comes down to it now.

Mostly because I think getting off Isaac’s $15m in place of a rookie scale deal is more important than adding another mid vet option in the front court.

Maybe I’m just hoping whoever they draft can possibly become better than Carter. Centers seem to have a high success rate in the draft at later picks and Moe isn’t back until Christmas.

[Magic_Johnny12]

I genuinely don’t care what the GB/trade board thinks or unanimously votes on “who won”.

Orlando made a calculated decision and time will tell if it was the correct one.

Almost every reputable media outlet has this as a GREAT trade and applauds Orlando for being aggressive and creating their window (and faith with this core).

Both Bill Simmons and Ryan Russillo has us better than the NYK which just lost in the Easter Conference finals. I’ll take that.

There’s a lot to be excited about in Orlando, I’m not going to lose sleep over not having x4 Jett Howard’s

[Optimus_Steel]

Let’s take a look at posts about Desmond Bane from BEFORE the surprise trade.


Optimus_Steel
RealGM
#1566 » Wed Apr 23, 2025 9:31 am
0
If Mem wants to make changes we need to be calling about Desmond Bane.

..

Here is Knightro and VFX debating Bane versus Suggs as a change in ORL instead of imagining having both:

Knightro wrote:

Two things...

1. 27 v. 24 isn't a significant difference in age to me. Trading 24-year-old Suggs for 31-year-old Derrick White *is* a significant difference that tangibly changes the team's timeline by adding 7 years to a core player, but 3 years isn't much.

2. Bane is a considerably better basketball player and just about every traditional and advanced metric would agree that it's not particularly close. Here's a small sampling...

TS%
Bane career: .597, Bane most recent season: .600
Suggs career: .535, Suggs most recent season: .536

AST%
Bane best season: 29.2%, Bane most recent season: 23.6%
Suggs best season: 24.9%, Suggs most recent season: 21.6%

TOV%
Bane career: 11.0%, Bane most recent season: 13.3%
Suggs career: 16.2%, Suggs most recent season: 16.2%

EPM
Bane best season: +3.5, Bane most recent season: +2.3
Suggs best season: +2.0, Suggs most recent season: +1.4

BPM
Bane best season: +3.5, Bane most recent season +3.2
Suggs best season: +1.0, Suggs most recent season +0.4

Net Points
Bane best season: +1.5, Bane most recent season +0.7
Suggs best season: -0.5, Suggs most recent season -0.5

Bane is a better shooter. Better scorer. Better playmaker. Better passer. Better rebounder. Better finisher. Less turnover prone.

Suggs is absolutely a better defender, but Bane has graded out as a positive defender in 3 of the last 4 seasons, including this most recent season. So that gap isn't nearly as wide as the gap between Suggs and Bane offensively.

Your arguments about Bane's injury history are valid. But he's still averaged 61 games per season since Suggs has been in the league compared to 53 for Suggs.

The only thing IMO not in Bane's favor would be that his contract goes up, while Suggs' goes down, but Bane is very clearly a much better player.

..

GGforever
9:44 pm
This is my list of players, realistic or not, for us to target in a trade. While keeping the core of Paolo, Franz, Jalen, and Moe.
Booker, Bane, Herro, Trey Murphy, Derrick White, Trae, Lamelo, Garland, KAT, Walker Kessler, Simons, Reaves, Coby White, Vassell

..

GGforever
0
Replacing KCP in the starting lineup is a must.
Magic will certainly need to overpay for him, but Trey Murphy would be a phenomenal option.
Not sure if it would get it done but something along the lines of Anthony Black, Wendell, both firsts this year.
Similar package but more firsts for Booker, Bane and a few others

..

OrlChamps2030 wrote:
Magic_Johnny12 wrote:
Maybe I’m a homer, but I really think we’re able to net a quality PG withOUT trading Suggs (or any of the core).

This is not to say Suggs is untouchable, but it would truly be a travesty if Weltman can’t pull something off with the tangible assets we currently have and we never get to see our homegrown players play with a PG that’s a difference maker.

Elite GM’s always find a way. It will cost us in draft equity of course, but for the right player it may be worth it.


What about something based around AB + salary + picks for Garland or Bane?

I love the idea of both

..

by Optimus_Steel
Wed Apr 30, 2025 12:54 pm
Forum: Orlando Magic
Topic: Official 2025 Offseason Thread
Replies: 1046
Views: 13059
Official 2025 Offseason Thread
Use AB in a package with draft picks to go after Demond Bane

..

drsd
RealGM
#3
I go out of my friggin' mind when many here say the Magic need "playmaking" as if that’s the solution to all the Magic players being horrible at distance shooting. Rubbish. The Magic needs shooters on the roster as the A1 need. It is painful that all don’t see this clearly.
Replace Caldwell-Pope for a guard that can shoot 39%+++
(drsd has small list of players who fit this. Desmond Bane is in it).

..

by eyriq
Sat May 10, 2025 9:10 am
Views: 69298
Re: Official 2024-2025 Magic Trade ideas thread continued
. For me, you should have Cole, JI, Goga and Black as your main chips. Suggs if there's a big offensive fish - Bane or Maxey level

..

Ducklett
RealGM
Go for Bane? Saves us from having to go for an offensive-only flamethrower PG.

..

RichCollab
Assistant Coach
0
What about Bane????

Glad the front office read my post about going after Bane lol

[Optimus_Steel]

Moritz was a legit top-3 Sixth Man award candidate before he got injured. You don’t walk away from that.
I will be stunned if after we decline to team option that he’s not later in the summer signed to a multi-year deal. The negotiation could get ugly because of the injury and that he won’t be available to start the season, but I expect Mo to be here.

I think people don't appreciate how effective Mo is because he is not a shot blocker. He is one of the best bench players in the league.

[drsd]

Note from Keith Smith: Orlando will be hard-capped at the SECOND apron after this trade.

That is $207.8M.

Not that they will be anywhere close to that. Just something to keep in mind.

Fake news.

Franz Wagner 38,661,700
Desmond Bane 36,725,670
Jalen Suggs 35,000,000
Paolo Banchero 15,334,769
Jonathan Isaac 15,000,000
Wendell Carter 10,850,000
Goga Bitadze 8,333,333
Anthony Black 7,970,028
Jett Howard 5,529,506
Tristan da Silva 3,809,520
Mr #25 2,983,320

Total 180,197,846
This is the without-another trade min-salary line.

Then ... there is the team options.

Moritz Wagner 11,000,000
Gary Harris 7,500,000
Cory Joseph 3,468,960
Caleb Houstan 2,187,451

Total 24,156,411


And 180,197,846 + 24,156,411 = 204,354,257

There is zero minus 10,000 divided by negative-4000 chance that Harris is kept.
So, let's say the Magic is today sitting on 196,854,257.
Which related to the $195,946,000 first apron, Orlando currently has 14 players under contract at 900k over the first apron.

Restructuring M-Wagner at a tiny level takes Orlando to under the apron. If the Magic gets M-Wagner to 3-years on 24M, for example, then the Magic actually has enough money for a 15th player on a vet-min deal to stay under the first apron. (or to trade Howard and the rights to Mr25 for a solid vet).

[fendilim]

So let me get this straight Weltman upgraded

Gary Harris
To
KCP
To
Bane

In 3 seasons and Orlando still doesn’t have a point guard on the roster.

He still doesn’t get that the offense is bad because of ball movement.

This has been the most fascinating and interesting debate of the whole summer to me.

The push and pull between we need playmaking more than shooting. Or shooting more than playmaking.

It feels like our board came out 60% for playmaking over shooting, as opposed to 40% the other way around.

I went with the 40% opinion because Franz and Paolo are the monsters that opposing teams can’t solve. And they are still too young for me.
You can’t pluck a Haliburton out of nowhere either. If CoJo was getting us into offensive sets quite well like he did then we also don’t need to go as crazy on a playmaking upgrade as we thought. In some ways, I think a pure PG and a pure Center with switchable defensive skill are now much easier to scout for the Magic than any other positions. We know all the other starting spots and the top 7-ish rotation. Any PG’s and Bigs we look at get that extra level of accurate scouting — how do they fit precisely next to the 3-man and 4-man combos of Bane, Suggs, Franz, Paolo.

It’s only truly fascinating if nobody has been watching the team for the last three seasons.

The argument to me isn’t shooting vs playmaking. It’s rational basketball vs attempting to make something it isn’t. Because the former plan assumes playmaking guards cannot also shoot a basketball in space. Which we know is nonsense. Those players aren’t unicorns. These two finals teams have 6 between the two of them.

There is a massive grey area between Cojo and Haliburton. Like monumental amounts of grey area.

I don’t necessarily disagree with your assessment of what Orlando needs right now.

People have to understand that at some point in a team’s roster construction you are acquiring skillsets to mitigate what your main guys lack. If everyone here with Blue shaded glasses believes Paolo and Franz will become exponentially better shooters from outside, then that’s great. Terrific.

My main concern with this team wasn’t secondary playmaking and improving the starting lineup by one shooter total. It was primary playmaking, making the stars better on offense, AND being able to stretch the floor. Does Bane do those three things? He does one of those things at an elite level, at the expense of the other two, positionally based on the assets required to acquire him.

But yeah… bench playmaking guard that can create offense is still a need off the bench as well as a big.

primary playmaker like who though?

Bane is obviously not an elite level PG but he is more than capable as a primary playmaker to make Paolo a hub on offense. We also have Franz who can alternate with him.

Bane does all three things you mentioned. Playmake, make teammates better and stretch the floor.

He was actually really solid running the show in Memphis without Ja Morant.

Desmond Bane PPP as a handler in Pick and Rolls is .93, A player like Trae Young is .94.

In 2023-2024, Desmond Bane averaged .99 PPP on PnR (handler) compared to Trae Young at .98. Lebron was only .91 last year.

Disclaimer: not saying he is better than Trae or Lebron as a playmaker, just saying that he isn’t as bad as people are painting him to be.

He no doubt can stretch the floor and him being on the court alone will open a whole lot of opportunity for Paolo and Franz.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Bane makes the allstar next year. He averaged better stats than Tyler Herro this season too.

[RichCollab]

Moritz was a legit top-3 Sixth Man award candidate before he got injured. You don’t walk away from that.
I will be stunned if after we decline to team option that he’s not later in the summer signed to a multi-year deal. The negotiation could get ugly because of the injury and that he won’t be available to start the season, but I expect Mo to be here.

I think people don't appreciate how effective Mo is because he is not a shot blocker. He is one of the best bench players in the league.

I’m hoping for Moe back. He is a good pair with JI especially if JI regains his agility.

[orlando_joe]

Pretty terrible deal for the Magic value wise considering the 2026 Suns/Wizards pick was included. I can understand it though from the mangament. You are watching maybe the Pacers win the title and think that Banchero can be a true superstar and have Franz/Bane/Suggs around him, then why not us?

not bad if even with suns swap magic gave a couple bad 2nds for swap..so what...and not so sure west is weaker and suns healthy and get positive better fitting guys for durant see no reason that pick is 15/18 ..none of what magic gave has much value and used 2 neg contracts ..i mean come on

[thelead]

Moritz was a legit top-3 Sixth Man award candidate before he got injured. You don’t walk away from that.
I will be stunned if after we decline to team option that he’s not later in the summer signed to a multi-year deal. The negotiation could get ugly because of the injury and that he won’t be available to start the season, but I expect Mo to be here.

I think people don't appreciate how effective Mo is because he is not a shot blocker. He is one of the best bench players in the league.

I disliked him for a lot of his tenure here but pairing him with JI masked all of his flaws. JI and Mo together is what makes the bench unit work. We didn’t get to see enough Mo and Goga minutes, if any, to know if that also works.

Mo is a walking bucket. We can’t lose his super efficient scoring. However, we also need to make sure that he has a frontcourt running mate that cover for his defensive weaknesses.

[Magic_Johnny12]

I genuinely don’t care what the GB/trade board thinks or unanimously votes on “who won”.

Orlando made a calculated decision and time will tell if it was the correct one.

Almost every reputable media outlet has this as a GREAT trade and applauds Orlando for being aggressive and creating their window (and faith with this core).

Both Bill Simmons and Ryan Russillo has us better than the NYK which just lost in the Easter Conference finals. I’ll take that.

There’s a lot to be excited about in Orlando, I’m not going to lose sleep over not having x4 Jett Howard’s

Furthermore, I give Weltman his flowers. I have said many times in the past that our front office has been too risk adverse and argued countless times that Weltman is afraid to make a mistake (commenting on his lack of creativity and inability to zig when something doesn’t go his way like many great GM’s are able to do).

Weltman signed KCP and realized quickly it was a mistake.

Weltman didn’t get too caught up in the optics of it all.

Didn’t care that he only played a handful of games with the core, didn’t care he was just signed, didn’t care that he was represented by Klutch, didn’t care about continuity. He didn’t get too consumed in ego and understood he needed to right a wrong.

He promised the fan base offensive talent and put aside all the noise and did what was best for the franchise.

This shows me that he’s able to admit that the signing was a failure, but more importantly that he’s not willing to waste another year evaluating or trying to recoup lost value.

This move should also have a placebo effect on the players. We should expect everyone’s best next season as everyone now knows this is the locked in core for the foreseeable future and the only thing that should matter is winning.

[drsd]

Bane could very well be an all-star next season if Orlando had a top-4 record by ASB.

And-1

Also: the Magic can become one of those VERY rare rosters to have three 20ppg players on one roster.
This team will be fun.

One thing I love about Bane is that the PnR will be real. FINALLY!

[basketballRob]

Note from Keith Smith: Orlando will be hard-capped at the SECOND apron after this trade.

That is $207.8M.

Not that they will be anywhere close to that. Just something to keep in mind.

Fake news.

Franz Wagner 38,661,700
Desmond Bane 36,725,670
Jalen Suggs 35,000,000
Paolo Banchero 15,334,769
Jonathan Isaac 15,000,000
Wendell Carter 10,850,000
Goga Bitadze 8,333,333
Anthony Black 7,970,028
Jett Howard 5,529,506
Tristan da Silva 3,809,520
Mr #25 2,983,320

Total 180,197,846
This is the without-another trade min-salary line.

Then ... there is the team options.

Moritz Wagner 11,000,000
Gary Harris 7,500,000
Cory Joseph 3,468,960
Caleb Houstan 2,187,451

Total 24,156,411


And 180,197,846 + 24,156,411 = 204,354,257

There is zero minus 10,000 divided by negative-4000 chance that Harris is kept.
So, let's say the Magic is today sitting on 196,854,257.
Which related to the $195,946,000 first apron, Orlando currently has 14 players under contract at 900k over the first apron.

Restructuring M-Wagner at a tiny level takes Orlando to under the apron. If the Magic gets M-Wagner to 3-years on 24M, for example, then the Magic actually has enough money for a 15th player on a vet-min deal to stay under the first apron. (or to trade Howard and the rights to Mr25 for a solid vet).

I thought we only had to be under the first apron to get the full MLE. The first apron is projected to be $195.9m. That would give us enough room to keep Moe and Cojo.

We can be over the tax threshold at $187.9m and still use the full MLE.

Ideally, we'd just trade Goga, Jett, and the 25th pick for NAW and fill in the roster with second round picks.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

[Knightro]

Note from Keith Smith: Orlando will be hard-capped at the SECOND apron after this trade.

That is $207.8M.

Not that they will be anywhere close to that. Just something to keep in mind.

Fake news.

Franz Wagner 38,661,700
Desmond Bane 36,725,670
Jalen Suggs 35,000,000
Paolo Banchero 15,334,769
Jonathan Isaac 15,000,000
Wendell Carter 10,850,000
Goga Bitadze 8,333,333
Anthony Black 7,970,028
Jett Howard 5,529,506
Tristan da Silva 3,809,520
Mr #25 2,983,320

Total 180,197,846
This is the without-another trade min-salary line.

Then ... there is the team options.

Moritz Wagner 11,000,000
Gary Harris 7,500,000
Cory Joseph 3,468,960
Caleb Houstan 2,187,451

Total 24,156,411


And 180,197,846 + 24,156,411 = 204,354,257

There is zero minus 10,000 divided by negative-4000 chance that Harris is kept.
So, let's say the Magic is today sitting on 196,854,257.
Which related to the $195,946,000 first apron, Orlando currently has 14 players under contract at 900k over the first apron.

Restructuring M-Wagner at a tiny level takes Orlando to under the apron. If the Magic gets M-Wagner to 3-years on 24M, for example, then the Magic actually has enough money for a 15th player on a vet-min deal to stay under the first apron. (or to trade Howard and the rights to Mr25 for a solid vet).

I’m not totally sure what the point of this post is as they’re going to decline all three of those team options almost assuredly.

[VFX]

This has been the most fascinating and interesting debate of the whole summer to me.

The push and pull between we need playmaking more than shooting. Or shooting more than playmaking.

It feels like our board came out 60% for playmaking over shooting, as opposed to 40% the other way around.

I went with the 40% opinion because Franz and Paolo are the monsters that opposing teams can’t solve. And they are still too young for me.
You can’t pluck a Haliburton out of nowhere either. If CoJo was getting us into offensive sets quite well like he did then we also don’t need to go as crazy on a playmaking upgrade as we thought. In some ways, I think a pure PG and a pure Center with switchable defensive skill are now much easier to scout for the Magic than any other positions. We know all the other starting spots and the top 7-ish rotation. Any PG’s and Bigs we look at get that extra level of accurate scouting — how do they fit precisely next to the 3-man and 4-man combos of Bane, Suggs, Franz, Paolo.

It’s only truly fascinating if nobody has been watching the team for the last three seasons.

The argument to me isn’t shooting vs playmaking. It’s rational basketball vs attempting to make something it isn’t. Because the former plan assumes playmaking guards cannot also shoot a basketball in space. Which we know is nonsense. Those players aren’t unicorns. These two finals teams have 6 between the two of them.

There is a massive grey area between Cojo and Haliburton. Like monumental amounts of grey area.

I don’t necessarily disagree with your assessment of what Orlando needs right now.

People have to understand that at some point in a team’s roster construction you are acquiring skillsets to mitigate what your main guys lack. If everyone here with Blue shaded glasses believes Paolo and Franz will become exponentially better shooters from outside, then that’s great. Terrific.

My main concern with this team wasn’t secondary playmaking and improving the starting lineup by one shooter total. It was primary playmaking, making the stars better on offense, AND being able to stretch the floor. Does Bane do those three things? He does one of those things at an elite level, at the expense of the other two, positionally based on the assets required to acquire him.

But yeah… bench playmaking guard that can create offense is still a need off the bench as well as a big.

primary playmaker like who though?

Bane is obviously not an elite level PG but he is more than capable as a primary playmaker to make Paolo a hub on offense. We also have Franz who can alternate with him.

Bane does all three things you mentioned. Playmake, make teammates better and stretch the floor.

He was actually really solid running the show in Memphis without Ja Morant.

Desmond Bane PPP as a handler in Pick and Rolls is .93, A player like Trae Young is .94.

In 2023-2024, Desmond Bane averaged .99 PPP on PnR (handler) compared to Trae Young at .98. Lebron was only .91 last year.

Disclaimer: not saying he is better than Trae or Lebron as a playmaker, just saying that he isn’t as bad as people are painting him to be.

He no doubt can stretch the floor and him being on the court alone will open a whole lot of opportunity for Paolo and Franz.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Bane makes the allstar next year. He averaged better stats than Tyler Herro this season too.

This ultimately comes down to how he is utilized and folded into the current system.

Now do I believe Mosely is going to have Desmond Bane running offense and getting people into better positions for pick and roll opportunities? No. Paolo and Franz will be bringing up the ball a majority of the time.

Our info on how Bane is used was in one total system in Memphis as the main secondary option off of Ja. He will not be that guy in Orlando in my estimation. He will be the 3rd option, which is nice because it means less pressure on Suggs.

It’s not that I think he’s incapable of the things you listed. It’s that he won’t be tasked with a lot of it due to how things have been run here. And no, he isn’t a primary playmaker. It’s not like people list him as some dual threat combo guard like Harden, SGA, or something. He’s a 3&D guy with a little more in his bag than the average catch and shoot guy. Hes basically a much more elite offensively older Suggs from a season ago in terms of how he gets into spots and defensively.

[cedric76]

Note from Keith Smith: Orlando will be hard-capped at the SECOND apron after this trade.

That is $207.8M.

Not that they will be anywhere close to that. Just something to keep in mind.

Fake news.

Franz Wagner 38,661,700
Desmond Bane 36,725,670
Jalen Suggs 35,000,000
Paolo Banchero 15,334,769
Jonathan Isaac 15,000,000
Wendell Carter 10,850,000
Goga Bitadze 8,333,333
Anthony Black 7,970,028
Jett Howard 5,529,506
Tristan da Silva 3,809,520
Mr #25 2,983,320

Total 180,197,846
This is the without-another trade min-salary line.

Then ... there is the team options.

Moritz Wagner 11,000,000
Gary Harris 7,500,000
Cory Joseph 3,468,960
Caleb Houstan 2,187,451

Total 24,156,411


And 180,197,846 + 24,156,411 = 204,354,257

There is zero minus 10,000 divided by negative-4000 chance that Harris is kept.
So, let's say the Magic is today sitting on 196,854,257.
Which related to the $195,946,000 first apron, Orlando currently has 14 players under contract at 900k over the first apron.

Restructuring M-Wagner at a tiny level takes Orlando to under the apron. If the Magic gets M-Wagner to 3-years on 24M, for example, then the Magic actually has enough money for a 15th player on a vet-min deal to stay under the first apron. (or to trade Howard and the rights to Mr25 for a solid vet).

Technically it is not fake as we didn't opt out yet, but we will be below once we do

Keith knows his cap stuff, he works for spotrac and he is co-host of the front office show

[Knightro]

Note from Keith Smith: Orlando will be hard-capped at the SECOND apron after this trade.

That is $207.8M.

Not that they will be anywhere close to that. Just something to keep in mind.

Fake news.

Franz Wagner 38,661,700
Desmond Bane 36,725,670
Jalen Suggs 35,000,000
Paolo Banchero 15,334,769
Jonathan Isaac 15,000,000
Wendell Carter 10,850,000
Goga Bitadze 8,333,333
Anthony Black 7,970,028
Jett Howard 5,529,506
Tristan da Silva 3,809,520
Mr #25 2,983,320

Total 180,197,846
This is the without-another trade min-salary line.

Then ... there is the team options.

Moritz Wagner 11,000,000
Gary Harris 7,500,000
Cory Joseph 3,468,960
Caleb Houstan 2,187,451

Total 24,156,411


And 180,197,846 + 24,156,411 = 204,354,257

There is zero minus 10,000 divided by negative-4000 chance that Harris is kept.
So, let's say the Magic is today sitting on 196,854,257.
Which related to the $195,946,000 first apron, Orlando currently has 14 players under contract at 900k over the first apron.

Restructuring M-Wagner at a tiny level takes Orlando to under the apron. If the Magic gets M-Wagner to 3-years on 24M, for example, then the Magic actually has enough money for a 15th player on a vet-min deal to stay under the first apron. (or to trade Howard and the rights to Mr25 for a solid vet).

I thought we only had to be under the first apron to get the full MLE. The first apron is projected to be $195.9m. That would give us enough room to keep Moe and Cojo.

We can be over the tax threshold at $187.9m and still use the full MLE.

Ideally, we'd just trade Goga, Jett, and the 25th pick for NAW and fill in the roster with second round picks.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

I don’t believe that’s correct. I believe you have to be under the luxury tax completely, not just under the first apron, to use the full mid-level.

[Knightro]

Even if the intention is to have all three of Moe, Gary and CoJo on the roster next season, it still makes sense to decline all three options and give yourself the flexibility to use the full mid-level on somebody else you want to.

If nothing shakes out with the mid-level, you can just re-sign all of those guys if you’re so inclined. But you gotta give yourself the option.

[three3d]

Are we on Brook Lopez watch now lol. God I do not know why I see him in a Magic uniform lol but I just do. Maybe his love for Disney World brings him here for one year on the real real real cheap. Lol