You’re not really a Nuggets guard until you move to Central Florida. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope followed the well-trodden path of Gary Harris, Arron Afflalo, Evan Fournier, RJ Hampton and Von Wafter when he accepted three-year, $66 million contract with magic.
Orlando also agree to bring Harris back to a two-year, $14 million deal that could come from his room exception and got Goga Bitadze on a three-year, $25 million deal that will be signed once the rest of his cap space is gone, as he only has a $2 million cap hold.
The Magic still have about $25 million in cap room, and one thing they could do is renegotiate and extend Jonathan Isaac’s contract with a portion of it. Doing so, rather than a standard extension, would put more money into the present and take it out of future seasons, when Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero’s likely max extensions will make the Magic’s roster more expensive.
In Orlando’s situation, it would make more sense to use as much money as possible this season by using cap space in a renegotiation and extension. You could do that by using $6.5 million in cap room to give Isaac a $17 million raise to $23.5 million, then reducing his salary by 40% of the maximum allowed the following season to just $14.1 million. With an 8% decrease over the next two seasons, his salary would be $13 million in 2026-27 and $11.9 million in 2027-28, for a total of $45.5 million in new money.
(Later in the day, Orlando and Issac agreed to a five-year, $84 million contract.)
With the money left over after that, the Magic could still use another shot-making guard. If nothing happens, though, don’t be surprised if they use the salary cap space for a one-year overpay with a team option for 2025-26, keeping the money alive as a trade exception to consider this season or next offseason.
GO FURTHER
The Winners and Losers of NBA Free Agency, and Why the Apron Era Is the End of Exceptionalism
