EP. 352 – Tyus Jones – Orlando Magic Podcast

EP. 352 – Tyus Jones – Orlando Magic Podcast

This is the Sixman Show, an Orlando Magic podcast with your hosts Kevin Tucker and Jonathan Osborne covering all things Magic Basketball by fans for fans. Go Magic. What’s going on Orlando Magic fans? You guys are back with the six-man show. Today is July 3rd, 2025. Jonathan Osborne here as always, joined by my bald co-host Kevin Tucker. What’s going on? Last time I said wonderful, so this time I felt like I need to throw a dig at you.
Taking shots early. Man, I’m so glad to be be joined by my balding co-host as well, uh, maybe.
Receding my receding co-host, Jonathan Osborne. How’s that? the the the minoxidil and finasteride have been good to me. All right, so we’re hanging on to what we’ve got for now.
I’m glad.
No, I’m I’m doing well. I uh I had a golf lesson today uh with my friend Brian, friend of the show. Um for my golfers out there, recently my golf swing just felt like it was non-existent. And I went to Brian today. He made a couple of adjustments and I was hitting the ball better than I ever have. It’s like you go to the doctor and you’re like convinced that you’re dying and then he’s like, “No, you you it sounds like you just had bad shrimp. Like you’re going to be just fine.” So, always a relief. That put a little bit of a pep back in my step today. But what’s up with you? Wow, that’s I I can’t relate to that at all. That’s very interesting. Uh yeah, things are good. Uh very busy, drama-filled week across the league. Um maybe not enough drama in Orlando Magic World right now. Things are a little quiet after Monday pretty much uh with the opening of free agency, but yeah, I’m good and excited to talk through all the stuff with you.
Let’s start before we get to the magic, like what have your thoughts been about like just free agency this year in general?
I had very low expectations because of how honestly just bad this free agency class is. like, you know, we’ve had some really amazing classes in years past, like with some huge names, some big numbers, and all that kind of stuff. And so, coming into this week, I knew the list of free agents wasn’t really that juicy or spicy. And so, I had pretty low expectations. But they have found ways to make drama in other ways, right? Like in other avenues that have been really surprising. I don’t think any are as surprising as the whole Miles Turner to Milwaukee. Dame getting cut thing. That was jaw-dropping. Not cut, sorry. Waved and stretched is the is the proper term. That was jaw. I think to me that’s the the most dramafilled moment so far of this off season. How do you feel?
Which that occurred like with it was like the span of about 30 minutes. It felt like maybe less. Yeah, it was
maybe even less than that. It was a pretty quick turnaround. Yeah, that’s definitely been the the biggest surprise of the off season so far. And I guess I just kind of underestimated how few teams really have cap space and just like how everybody is walking around these aprons as if they were napal. Like just nobody wants anything to do with them. And teams are having to get creative and and and you know make moves that are hurting their team in some cases. and some teams are finding creative ways to improve their team due to other teams cap situations. So, I I feel like that’s been pretty interesting. But it just I don’t know, man. I I keep feeling like this as you start to get a little bit older, the things in life that you thought were just so awesome and exciting, like they seem less exciting. And I don’t know if this is one of those things where I’m just remembering like free agency as it once was is you know through the lens of nostalgia or if I mean part of it is due to the not so stellar free agency class but also like this collective bargaining agreement is really like handcuffing a lot of teams. you no longer can say like, “Well, we’re just going to find a way to bring this guy in and we’re going to pay the tax and we’re going to pay the penalty no matter what it is.” Because now there are real like ramifications for using part of your mid-level exception, you know, if you’re over the tax and into the first apron, you know, is the the magic our our learning. So, we’re going to talk all about that. We’re going to talk about what the magic have done, what we’re hoping still gets done and is not done yet. And yeah, we’re gonna talk a little Dame Lillard. You know, if it we’re we’re over here dreaming, we we might as well dream big. So, we’ll we’ll definitely talk all about that. Although, couple of things that were expected now that have been reported to be confirmed. Remember, nothing is official yet. We are in the moratorum currently, which ends July 6, and that’s when players can officially sign with these teams. but reports that Cole Anthony is going to be bought out at some point by the Memphis Grizzlies and and move on. And then Gary Harris assigned a two-year deal with the Milwaukee Bucks. And I I can’t lie, when I saw Gary Harris’s name come up and I saw the picture of him in a Magic jersey, my heart stopped for a split second thinking that, you know, maybe he was coming back. Did you see that notification the same way that I did? Were you
No. No. I knew he was gone. And but I also think it’s it it’s just very interesting because that was that was within again two hours max of the Dame news and you you go oh so Milwaukee is going from Damen Lillard to Gary Harris. Interesting. Yeah. And obviously it’s not exactly apples to apples because Dame’s not going to play for the vast majority of next season if at all. But the conceptually moving from Dame to Gary Gary Harris Harris is just quite quite the move. But uh again, we’ve said it many times on this show. I wish Gary nothing but the best. Hope he does well. Uh hope he has a nice career, a nice guy, great guy. But I am relieved that we don’t have him uh in Orlando. Before we get to the the moves that the Magic have made, it does feel like the league is still kind of waiting on something. I don’t really know what that something is. Usually most years we know what the something is. Either there is a really big free agent out there or there’s a a you know bigname player who is like requested and demanded a trade. Nothing like that is really public yet. You know, there has been talks, depending on what network you’re watching or what podcast you’re listening to, that some teams are kind of still, especially after the Miles Turner trade and the waving and stretching of Damen Lillard, some teams are still kind of holding out for hopes that Giannis will demand a trade. I don’t know if that’s like the last big domino that teams are waiting for to drop, but when you look at the list on Spa Track of, you know, when it’s sorted by like previous average annual value of the free agents that are available, Malcolm Brogden, Marvin Bagley, Chris Boucher, obviously Mo Vagner is there who we’ll talk about in a moment, Chris Paul, Al Horford, Gary Payton II, Trey Lyles, Josh Giddy, Jonathan Kuminga, Precious Aua, Malik B Malik Beasley, everyone knows kind of what the holdup is there. Amir Coffee, Russell Westbrook, like these are guys who are, I would guarantee, are going to be on NBA rosters this year. When you get past that point of the list, I think it gets a little bit murky when you get into like the Marquee Morrises and Tristan Thompson’s and Patty Mills and stuff like that. But it it does feel like the league is kind of waiting for something to kind of finish out the rest of free agency. like kind of feels like we had that initial rush like that boom boom boom where there’s deals and then there’s been such a lull and there’s still just too many guys who are free agents for us to not eventually get that kind of next wave where we’ll see a lot of trade or a lot of moves happen really quickly. What has your feeling been in regards to that? Yeah, I mean pretty much like you alluded to like typically there’s the one, two, three do like large dominoes that we’re waiting for day one and some years it’s happened as soon as the clock struck 6 p.m. or in previous older years midnight or whatever the first big domino falls and then everything happens right after that. Or sometimes it’s taken a while. Sometimes it’s been later, you know, 12 hours, 24 hours later and then the deals fall in line after that. And so because this free a free agency class isn’t like that, it just it everything’s just so different. Like the combination of that, like you said, plus the teams having to walk on eggshells with all the the cap situation and stuff. It’s just so different. This is very much like uncharted territory, I think, for the league and for front offices and for even fans. Um, and so I don’t really know. It’s it’s kind of interesting because in some way like this stuff typically happens in the first, you know, week, maybe two weeks, but there’s no deadline for this stuff. Like in theory, this off season could stretch even further than we’ve ever seen before. Like there’s no deadline to when free agency has to be done, right? Players can be signed at any point over the coming months. And so I don’t think it’ll be crazy and drag out until September, you know, although some players will sign in September, but it’s just it again it’s just uncharted territory and it just feels like something that’s dragging on a little bit longer than normal. But I would expect like by this weekend, you know, the holiday weekend going into Monday, you got to think that, you know, the vast majority of some of this stuff will be ironed out by then.
Yeah, that that’s what I’m thinking as well. and the Magic are waiting themselves for something. And I I guess that’s where we’ll take this conversation next, you know, before they finish up with their moves and and their off season. But I think it was about an hour and 40 minutes, maybe almost 2 hours into free agency when we got the notification from Shams that the MA Magic have reportedly landed Taius Jones for $7 million. a guy who we’ve been talking about on this podcast for like the better part of the last, you know, year and a half, you know, maybe close to two years now. Um, $7 million, which was interesting because, as we had talked about, the Magic really couldn’t make a move over $5.7 million without then becoming hardcapped at the first apron. So, my immediate reaction to that was, “Awesome. Magic got a real point guard on their roster. got a guy, you know, shot right around 40% for, you know, most of his career, has led the league in assist to turnover ratio, I think five out of the last six seasons in the league, apart from being like this defensive stalwart. That’s definitely the weakest part of his game, but everything else checks a lot of boxes for the Magic and is a really good fit. But because of the number, my mind immediately went to, all right, well, the Magic are now going to have to make a trade to shed salary if they are to bring back Mo Vagger and Caleb Houston. Kev, uh, your thoughts on the Tyus Jones signing? It’s it’s a name we’ve been floating around for, you know, over a year now at this point, but, uh, finally, right, we’ll take it. I mean, a guy who’s one of the best in the league when it comes to assist to turnover ratio, takes care of the ball, is able to find others, and obviously knock down the three. It’s it’s been something that’s been long overdue. um when it comes to like the the construction and the roster makeups, h having a guy um who is just a facilitator first at point guard uh and who can also knock down open shots when you know Paulo Fron or now Desmond Bane gets a lot of attention. Um so it’s great, right? It’s it’s amazing. It also sets up some very good problems that I think the Magic coaching staff now faces when it comes to guard rotation and minutes and those kinds of things. And obviously we can take some time to talk about that, but all in all, I’m just elated. Like it’s it’s a great move. Um the defense, you know, it’s no secret he’s a defensive liability, but it’s been many many years since he’s played on a very good defensive team, especially last year that Phoenix team was not great. But it you’d like to think that the defensive strength of the Magic will kind of mask some of the deficiencies that Taius Jones has on that area on that end of the floor. So, uh, yeah, I’m totally pumped, totally psyched. I think it’s a great move and and very good, especially for the second unit. Uh, Taius Jones just turned 29 in May last season. He played in 81 games, so a guy who’s been relatively durable for, you know, the 10 years that he’s been in the league. Last year, again, 81 games, 10.2 2 points per game, 5.3 assists, 1.1 turnovers. 1.1 turnovers being his careerhigh and only the second time in his career that he’s averaged one or more turnovers. Uh just under a steal per game, shot 44.8% from the floor last year and 41.4% from behind the arc. So you basically laid out his game perfectly there. I do want to talk just a little bit about the rotation. I don’t think the fit really is a question, but the rotation is shifting into this win now mode and the fact that the Magic really have four incredibly solid starters, right? Like you have three guys who are like, you know, allstar or borderline allstar caliber, Impalo, Fron, and Desmond Bane. And you have Jaylen Suggs who like in the right situation where he’s the starter on a really good team and he’s, you know, shooting the ball well and is in the conversation for like all defense. I do think he could make an all-star team. Like if you look at what was it like the was it the 2015 or 2014 Hawks where they were, you know, setting the world on fire and like everyone in that starting lineup I believe except Deari Carroll was an all-star. Like that was Kyle Corver and Jeff Teague. that was the year those guys were allstars. Like in that type of context, I think Jaylen could be an all-star. Um, but when you think about the rotation, the Magic will probably for the most part have at least two of those four guys on the floor at any given point. And those all four of those guys are guys that you can trust to throw the ball to to help facilitate the offense, create for themselves, create for others. So when we start talking about really the bench unit and like Taius and how he may be able to fit next to AB and what this means for AB, we also have to remember that for the most part like their minutes are going to be coming alongside of you know two one to two starters at least for the most part. But I do think it it creates an interesting dynamic. I think another thing that’s important for fans to realize is that this essentially is probably a one-year rental for Taius Jones, right? Like he thought a couple years ago that he was in line for a pretty significant raise that really didn’t come to fruition in the market. So he took kind of a prove it deal with the Suns and because he I guess in his context had a little bit of a down year and you know wasn’t quite as efficient. the Suns weren’t really all that good. I don’t want to say it backfired, but it didn’t exactly work out the way that he probably wanted it to. So, this is kind of like another one-year prove it deal for him. And if he has a good year, then he may be in line to get a, you know, the pay raise that he’s looking for elsewhere. And if he is looking for a pay raise, the Magic are not going to be the team to give it to him because they will not be able to give it to him given the salary cap and given the fact that Paulo’s extension is going to, you know, go into place and all that kind of stuff next off seasonason. So, this really is like a one-year rental. I already see some fans talking about like, well, what does this mean for AB? I tend to believe that the Magic are probably still fairly to heavily invested in AB’s future and his development here because of the fact that they it seems at least they did keep him out of trade conversations which is why you had to give up eventually four first round picks in a swap for Desmond Bane and the fact that you’re not just going to throw AB to the wayside in my opinion because after a year a guy like Tus Jones most likely is not going to be here and for the long term term, it’s largely beneficial for the Magic for AB to be the guy who can either spot start or run the second unit being the primary ball handler, you know, in those lineups. So, um, see a lot of that conversation, but I’m just excited for preseason in the regular season to start so we can actually see what this is going to look like. Yeah. And another conversation is, you know, late game situations, right? like, you know, Magic need a bucket. What are the five guys that are being rolled out for that? Like, take your pick. You know, I mean, obviously Pal France will be out there. Desmond Bane’s gonna be out there. Jaylen Suggs has made some great plays down the stretch in his career. You know, he’s got a great shot to to be in that moment. Taius Jones could have a night where he’s five of six from three and he could be put into that moment. You know, AB hit a couple huge buckets last year. I’m thinking about um the uh he had a couple he had a big one against the Pacers. He had the big um one against was it the Celtics? Well, he had he had another big corner three last year. Maybe it was the year before. I don’t remember. Um but anyway, yeah, guys could could be put into those spots late in games. And again, it ultimately comes down to this is a good problem for the Magic to have this year versus last year when guards, you know, either went down or whatever. The second slash third unit guards last year really, really struggled. Obviously, we talked about Gary jokingly at the beginning. Gary had a terrible year. Cole, you just mentioned, those were some of our backups, you know, last year. And this year adding Tyus Jones to that mix, at least on paper, again, we had a guy on paper who was supposed to pan out last year, but on paper, Taius Jones fills a lot of needs. Uh, and I think hopefully not just from like the knockdown shooter standpoint, but because his game is so assist driven and like looking to get other guys involved is a guy that I hope and think will elevate the guys that are around him. So, I think it’s great. I think it’s huge. Um, and definitely excited to see how it turns out. This episode of the Sixman Show is brought to you by Jam Hot Chicken. Jam Hot Chicken. They’re bringing jams, culture, and hot chicken to the heart of Winter Park. They make some amazing chicken and they’re also diehard Orlando Magic fans, which is why you should go check them out at 400 West New England Avenue, Sweet 13 in Hannibal Square. Again, they’re in beautiful Winter Park. where you can follow them at jamhotchickenick on on all social media and visit their website, jamhotchickenfl.com where you can see their menu and check out all things JamHot. Again, they love the Orlando Magic fan community cuz they’re diehard Orlando Magic fans themselves. Longtime Magic fans. What I love is when you go there, you can kind of peek through the windows and see some of the Orlando Magic like memorabilia that they have inside in like the kitchen area and some of the artwork on the outside. You can find a little Magic Star or T-Mac or Penny, all that kind of stuff. It’s really cool. Again, go check them out at Winter Park. Enjoy the good food and let them know that the Six-Man Show sent you. This episode is also brought to you by Bill Fulton, Jonathan Borggas, Teddy Sylvia, Manny, and Daniel Flores. These are some of our Hall of Fame and elite tier patrons. They went to patreon.com/the6man show where for as little as $2 a month, you can help support the show. $5, $10, etc. You can also get benefits like access to our discord channel, access to our monthly Zoom meetings uh that we have just to give our listeners like a little bit of a a peak uh behind the curtain at some of the things that we are working on and you also get entries into our giveaway. So if you like what we’re doing here, you want to help support, you can head on over to patreon.com/the6manshow. We also shout out brand new patrons whenever we have them. So once again, a big thank you to our patrons and let’s get back to the episode. I’m just sitting here thinking about what shot that was from AB cuz it was near the magic bench from that corner. You know, it hits the three, hits the little, you know, cell phone S on the way back, right?
It wasn’t the Celt I don’t think it was the Celtics. I think
Trist was the only like game winner that we had against I know exactly what you’re talking about. I don’t know why my mind is
so hung up on that, but yeah, I think it’s going to be super interesting. I would expect, you know, assuming health, the closing lineup is going to be the starting lineup just, you know, given the guys that you have out there. Um, but yeah, like could AB spot start? Could Taius spot start? You know, in the case that, you know, Jaylen misses time, which, you know, probably pencil him in to miss sometime. Hopefully, it’s not too much. But overall, I really love the Taya signing, especially when you see like a guy like Dennis Roer, I think, got three years, 45 million from Sacramento. Yeah.
Now, is Dennis Schroeder better? Yes. Is he $8 million a year better than Taius Jones?
I don’t really believe so. Um, but the biggest, or maybe not the biggest, but a big impact that this reported signing has is the fact that if the Magic are going to give Mo Vagner a fair contract in my opinion, they’re going to have to create some cap space at this point because now they are hardcapped at the First Apron. The first apron being $195, $945,000. and um some math done by our friend 0123 on Twitter. Right now, it looks like if they were to stretch, wave and stretch Jed Howard in the way that Damen Lillard was waved and stretched, the Magic would have about $10.5 million left that if they’re looking to allocate to Moartner and to Caleb Houston, they would be able to do that. Um Tim Reynolds of the AP and Jason Bey of the Orlando Sentinel both have kind of teased that they expect the Magic to bring Mo Vagner back. I don’t really know what they know, but I trust you both of those guys. So, and we haven’t seen any type of rumors that this team is, you know, the Magic are struggling to find a deal with Movor, so this team is interested in trying to see if they can pull him away. Like, we haven’t seen any of that. Mover’s name just has not been mentioned at all in these free agency discussions. So, I think it’s probably safe to assume that he comes back. But what it feels like to me is that the Magic are still trying to find the best way to do that. Waving and stretching Jet Howard does work. Um, basically I believe the way that waving and stretching works is that you take the remaining years on the contract, you double them, and then you add one. So because Jet has one year remaining on his deal, you double that, add one. So it would be the I think $6 million that he’s owed. And then you would, you know, wave and stretch that over basically the next three seasons. So that would help give you a little bit of cap relief there. But where my mind goes to is if there’s some type of trade that the Magic can make to dump more salary than that. Like if the Magic can make a trade, Jet Howard into like another team’s uh play like trade exception like the Washington Wizards right now have a $5.3 million trade exception and I believe Jet Howard’s contract is actually 5.5 million, but they’re allowed to bring in $250,000 more. So it like just barely fits into that exception. I think that exception expires in February for them. And there’s a list of some other teams who have trade exceptions that I guess could technically fit Jets deal, but it’s like who is really in the mood to do a favor for the Magic at this point? And what else would you have to give up? Like Portland has a $6.8 million trade exception. Are they a team they already have so much young guys? Do they want to add another guy in Jet Howard? And then could you trade Gogab Batzi into a trade exception? And like looking at a team, you know, like Portland, I don’t think that trade exception is big enough. But then you like they have Don Donovan Klingan and they have, you know, uh, Hansen Young and like all this kind of stuff. So it gets really tricky. But that’s really where the Magic are at at this point. like they have to make a trade to try to shed some salary to be able to bring Mo back, but also like then to have money to fill out the rest of the roster. I believe if you get Mo with Taiish, you’re only at 14, so you’d be going the rest of the season without a roster spot at that point. Yeah, the whole thing is quite interesting. Uh, again, all signs seem to point that way, but it’s one thing if Mo, you know, went into this free agency period beforehand and said, “Hey, we’re going to work something out. Don’t worry about it.” But it makes me wonder if, and I’m not accusing anybody of anything. I’m just telling you, if I was in Mo’s seat and I, you know, they declined my 11 million team option and I said, “It’s fine. You know, I know you guys are stuck in a tough spot, but I really want to come back. let’s try to make a deal work. And then I’m sitting at home seeing Luke Cornet get $41 million or you know some of the other numbers that we’ve seen mainly Cornett’s the one that’s interesting to me as as another big I’m like h wondering what else is out there now would he get Luke Cornet kind of money I don’t know we talked about on the last show like comparing these things is not always apples to apples you know whether it’s you know how much how many first round picks is a player worth or how many you know whatever uh you know annual salary is it worth it just depends on the each team situation and but you do wonder if Mo and his agent are going. Hold on. Let’s just let’s look around the league and see what’s out there. Um but again, all signs seem to point that Mo’s going to come back. Um but we’ll see. It’s going to take a little bit of creativity. There’s a lot of things that are seemingly obvious for us Magic fans about how the Magic could go about creating that room for Mo. But if we’ve seen if there’s something we’ve seen from this front office in the past, it’s sometimes they do things that surprise you. And so they could have some other things in their back pocket, different creative ways to make that kind of space. And so whether it’s trading jet or goa like we think could happen or they come up with something totally different, who knows? Um but I’d like to think that the Magic are trying diligently to make that space for Mo. Um, and like we talked about at the beginning, I really wish we’d had this have this answer by now cuz it’s a lot of uh suspense at this point and each day that goes by makes it a little little harder. But uh yeah, hopefully they’ll be able to come to terms with Mo soon. Uh cuz obviously I think every Magic fan would love to see him come back. Yeah, I at this point it’s just like there are just there just aren’t teams that have a lot of cap space left. one and you know the fact that he’s coming off of the ACL definitely helps you know the the Magic in that regard because how many teams are are at this point going to get into a bidding war with the Orlando Magic over a guy coming off of an ACL? Who really knows? Definitely hope that that gets done sooner rather than later. Another thing that I’ve seen a lot of people saying cuz I’ve just been sitting here bored waiting for this stuff to come through. So, I’m jumping on Spa Track and seeing like, okay, like what types of moves could the Magic be looking at like for stuff that makes sense. Like Dave McMenan or McMinum as we call him here, right, was on ESPN and he was referring to the Lakers and how they’re negotiating with a team who’s waiting to resolve a center situation
and they might end up having like a surplus of centers and then they may be looking to make a deal with the Lakers because the Lakers signed DeAndre Aton today. So maybe their center problems are solved. I don’t really know. They could be looking for a backup. But when I heard that, I thought, hm, that probably isn’t the magic, but it might be the magic. It could be the magic. So I started to look at trades that make sense with the Lakers. And I put that on Twitter. And then people are now asking like, “Oh, why why are we looking to trade Goa and like get rid of our center depth?” I don’t want to get rid of Goa, but to me, if it’s the difference between making a move that allows us to keep Mo or we don’t make that move, we just keep Goa and we lose Mo, I’m dealing Goa and keeping Mo. At least in my opinion. Ideally, at this point, the guy who is 100% without a doubt, I don’t really see him having a path to have real minutes and it’s probably best for both parties at this point to go their separate ways is Jet Howard, right? Like again, if you can just essentially dump Jet Howard, that’s not me saying that I think he’s worthless and all these kind of things. It’s just the Magic don’t really have a lot of leverage at this point. And Jet has not proven that he can be a rotation player in the league yet. If a team trades for him, they’re basically taking a flyer on a guy who was the 11th pick who is really talented, just hasn’t been able to make things work. And he hasn’t had he’s had opportunity in Orlando, but hasn’t had a ton of opportunity like he would have if he was playing for this team three or four years ago, right? So, do I want to move Goa? No. But in the the case that you can’t move Jet and your best options are like stretching Jet to get, you know, an extra like million and a half right now or trade Goa and be able to dump like four to five million. I’m probably leaning that way. Like whatever it’s going to take to be able to bring Mo back and also fill out the rest of the roster. That’s kind of the way that I’m leaning. It’s not that I want to move Goa or necessarily like want to move Jet, even though I do think it’s best for Jet and the Magic at this point. It’s more of like the cap doesn’t care how we feel about these guys. The cap is what it is. And Mov was the fourth best player on this team last year. Like considering health, like you know, or not considering health, I guess. So, yeah, I think you need to bring that guy back.
Yeah. And that that’s pretty much what it comes down to. like there’s three paths. At least again, in our finite brains, there’s three paths. The Magic could have something totally different up their sleeve, but path one involves Jet. Path two involves Goa. Path three involves neither, and Mo’s gone. And so, if you’re asking me, basically, you’re picking between Goa and Mo. I’m picking Mo every time. It doesn’t doesn’t mean I want Goa gone, but if that’s what it comes down to, I’m picking Mo and finding a different alternative for like a third string center. And so, um, but yeah, again, maybe there’s another path out there. We don’t know. But, uh, it feels to me like that’s kind of the pecking order when it comes to this that, uh, and I I really do I really think that’s what the Magic are working on behind the scenes right now is figuring out something with Jet. Um, that makes the most sense. Um, but again, time will tell if that’s if that’s the route they go or if they come with something else. I think we probably get news that the Magic have made a trade regardless of who that is. And then within like two hours we get news that they’re resigning Mo and and maybe even Caleb as well. The the other thing with Go like if you did find, you know, a way to just like dump Goa and then at that point, you know, you’re looking for like a free agent center like that market is like less than less than ideal, right? like Tristan Thompson, Taj Gibson, DeAndre Jordan, Thomas Bryant, Tristan Vukjik, Jackson Hayes, Charles Bassie, Alex Len, Bismac Biombo, Brandon Carlson, Christian Koko, Micah Potter, somebody threw Mo Bomba out there, which like, hey man, at this point, you got to do what you got to do. Like we we could do worse than bringing Mo Bomba in if he’s got a start. Like with the four that we have in that starting unit, you should be able to win games with almost anybody at center. Like we should be able to put me out there at center and win some games.
Yeah.
I mean, you know, I’ll give you five fouls. You know, I’ll give you I’ll give you that.
Same as Mo Bomba.
Yep.
Oh, no. Well, I just if and you know, I haven’t listened to the podcast, but um some of our patrons were sharing a podcast with us. It’s a German podcast that Mo was on recently and I believe they said that he should be ready by camp, but that right now it’s more just like a the mental part of the injury that he’s trying to get over and but then when he comes back is he like on a minutes restriction or whatever. seeing a lot of people say that, oh, he’s not going to be back until January. That doesn’t seem to be the case, but it also doesn’t seem like he’s going to be 100% by the start of camp either. And then, yes, you do have to factor in that it’s very likely that Wendell is going to miss some time. So, the Magic just can’t go into the season without having three bigs. They they just can’t.
Seemed like maybe there was going to be some Jonathan Isaac experimentation at the five last year. That didn’t go well. Looks like he’s trying to cut all the weight. We’ve seen that on social media. So, a lot going on. I just threw something here. I don’t know if you can hear that on your
out of out of anger. You’re just angry about the whole situation.
No, I’m I’m definitely not angry, but I’m I’m definitely getting anxious and, you know, impatient. Some people are getting impatient about the fact that we don’t have Paulo Benero news yet. um he had a death in the family this week. So, I’m sure the Magic are just giving his him obviously time to grieve. And that contract is sitting on Jeff Welman’s desk right now just waiting for Paulo to to come and sign it. Like nobody needs to worry about that whatsoever. Like that news could come at any time.
Yeah. So, if you’re worried about that, like Yeah. What what are we worried about? Like are we worried that Palo is not going to sign a max extension? Like I mean, come on. Of course. Of course he’s going to sign a max extension. Every everybody signs a max extension when you’re given it. So yeah, don’t worry. Don’t lose sleep over it, Magic fans. Like it’s going to be fine. He’s going to sign it. It’s just a matter of time. There’s an alternate universe where like at the beginning of the off season, Paulo is like, “No, unless you like do this, this, and this, I’m not resigning.” And like all of those things the Magic have already done. Like they went out and they got Desmond Bane. They went out and obviously they’ve got Taius Jones. like they’ve made the types of moves that if somebody wasn’t thrilled with their situation, the Magic have greatly improved like the basketball situation. So there’s or literally nothing to worry about.
Or maybe it’s, you know, like uh like a Thanos thing like, you know, he’s collecting all the different stones like if you do this this stone, but the last stone is resigning Mo Vagner. And so once Mo is ressigned, then PA goes pen to paper and then we then we go we go from then he snaps and then we just take over the league. That’s just what happens.
Penda paper. We may have to make that a Penda thing
this year.
Oh, Penda. Penda paper. Okay. Okay.
The first thing when we got drafted, the first thing that came to mind was the um uh designer song. Penda. Penda. Penda, you know. And then someone else said something in one of our chats and I said, “Well, it depend on this.” You know, all kind of pends that can be made there. Anyways, we’ll stop that.
Okay. Um, let’s see. We’ve been talking here now 35ish minutes. Do we want to talk about Damen Lillard? That we have to. We have to. So, yeah. Miles Turner to the Bucks, which it just seems like Indiana didn’t want to pay him, which feels bad for a guy who has been on the trade block, I think longer than any player that I can ever remember. And it seems like for the last six years, they have been trying to trade Miles Turner. They get two game seven of the NBA finals. He’s the longest tenure pacer. Been there I believe 10 years and they didn’t want to pay him for I I guess I kind of understand it but also kind of don’t. Like if I’m a Pacers fan this is up there with the worst weeks of my life.
Nope. Incorrect.
You don’t think so? At the Palace.
No, I know. I know Pacers fans did didn’t want to bring him back. It was very split. like one of one of my best friends die for those that don’t know I lived in Indianapolis for four years that’s for Jonathan uh one of one of my dear friends diehard Pacers fan die in the finals says glad this is the last series we’ll have with Miles
he said that during the OKC series
that’s tough man it’s very split like there’s some loyalty there obviously but at the same time he
10 years for your
he disappears bro
I know
in that final series he was terrible and so they part of it is I think they know this season’s a lost cause and so they’re not really worried about it, you know. But um Oh, we just got a notification. Jonathan Shams Trirania reporting that Dallas Maverick’s player development coach God Sham God to the Orlando Magic.
Let’s go. Wow. It’s officially official.
Awesome. How about that? That’ll that’ll derail a conversation. Wow. Okay. All right. Forget about Miles Turner. Forget about Dame Lillard. Um I want to talk Damon in a second, but for now, let’s talk about it’s 8:51 Eastern time. Shams literally just tweeted that out 19 seconds ago. This is big. Um, but not for the reason that I see people talking about. I don’t think God Sham God is going to come in and revolutionize the offense. But for guys like Jaylen Suggs, Anthony Black, Jace Richardson, guys who need further player play player development specifically in regards to their handle, I do think this is a big deal because that is literally God Sham God’s job. Yeah, look, I’m not going to pretend like I I know everything there is to know about him. You know, obviously I know he’s had quite the career. He’s got a a move named after him for goodness sake. Like, I mean, come on. That has to count for something. But we’ve been dying for some changes. I don’t know about changes, but some uh adjustments to uh some of the coaching staff. Obviously, offense is the first thing that comes to mind that Magic fans really want addressed coaching wise. But someone like this like my thing is it can’t hurt. It can’t it can only at least maybe maybe I’m wrong. It can only help, right? A guy that’s got a proven track record, a guy who Mosley knows and worked with in Dallas. So, you know, it’s not just some random Joe. It’s a guy Mosley trusts and he’s bringing him in. And again, like you mentioned, a lot of guys on this team could use some of the um the things that Shamgot has to offer. And so, it sounds like a win. And obviously, this has been we’ve been linked with him for like almost two months now at this point. And so, to see it actually happen is pretty cool. Um yeah, very exciting. I wonder if we’ll see him at uh at Summer League at all. That’d be kind of fun.
Yeah, that that would be interesting. I don’t know how many pods we’ve had with where like news broke in the middle of it. It hasn’t been many.
Yeah, I there was one really small one at one point like
I don’t know like Gary Harris, you know, team option. I don’t remember what it was. It was some It was something like that. Some role player I think we we got. But outside of that, no, this is new. This is this is uncharted territory. Um, funny enough, two hours ago when Shams announced that Frank Vogle is joining the Dallas Mavericks as an assistant coach, I commented under I said, “Announce Sham God to Orlando.” And two hours later, here we are.
Wow. So now you just need to reply to this and say, “Announce the Jet Howard trade or announce the Paulo extension.” And then he’ll give it to that give it to us in a couple hours.
Might do that.
Uh, okay. Can we go back to the Dame thing? Because
like the Miles Turner thing, that’s that’s a separate conversation. What Milwaukee is doing is
on paper it is it’s wild doesn’t even begin to describe it.
So for those of you that don’t understand what’s happened, they’re basically lighting I think it’s $23 million on fire.
$23 million of their cap every year for the next 5 years, right? So that means they are going to be paying a 39 5 years from now a 39year-old Damen Lillard $23 million to not play basketball for their team. Probably not play basketball for anyone any Yeah. by 39 I was probably not. But like that’s really really crazy. But then you pair that with now you’ve got Giannis with Miles Turner. Like is is that is that really the duo you’re selling to Giannis to try and compete for another championship? I don’t know. There’s a lot of like swirling reports about Giannis’s happy about this. Giannis is not happy about this. Like I don’t think anybody really has a good read on that. Um but that’s a whole separate conversation. Bucks or whatever. First off, I think this is when in terms of the Bucks, it’s a great move for the Magic. It’s another team in the Eastern Conference that wants to try to compete. I don’t think they got better by this move personally. Now, is upgrading Brook Lopez to Miles Turner, is that an upgrade? Yeah, it is. But it they don’t scare me. Okay, here here’s the thing though with the Dame talk. This now frees up Damen Lillard to make $23 million next year by not playing basketball. So that means he’s freed up to go play anywhere he wants and teams can sign him for even like a minimum if he’s willing to do that. If he’s willing to take the 23 million from the Bucks and get a minimum salary, you know, what is it? What do we say? It’s 2 and a.5 million these days, 3 million. I don’t remember what a minimum is anymore. the vet minimum. But regardless, it’s it’s not what he’s actually owed. Like, it’s not what, you know, a guy like him is actually worth. So, that opens up the possibilities to literally everybody. And if you’re asking me, if Damen Lillard wants to come to the Orlando Magic, I’m saying absolutely. I know we just signed Tus Jones. I know we just traded for Desmond Bane. I know we’ve got Anthony Black and Jace Richardson coming off the bench. I’m taking Dame every single time. uh especially at that, you know, minimum mark, I’ll absolutely take him. Um, now the injury is a different question, but to have a guy like Dame in the locker room this year, have him around the practice facility, that sounds amazing to me. And then all of a sudden, Dame gets healthy and, you know, March, Aprilish, and he comes back and is I don’t know if he’d come off the bench for you, but that’d be that’d be worth a conversation. Now, do I think it’s going to happen? No, I cannot imagine Damen Lillard coming to the Orlando Magic. I would guess he’s going to go back to the Western Conference, but we’ll see. Um I I already know your answer because I saw your tweet,
but tell me how you’re feeling about Dame.
Well, the vet minimum uh looks like it’s just about three and a half million. Um
yeah, if you can bring in Damian Lillard on the on the minimum, you do it. Like you you figure out how you need to do that to do that. Um, I do definitely have strong doubts about him coming back at any point this season. Um, and if he did, like straight off of an Achilles tear recovery, you’re not still not going to be 100% even when you are 100%. So, for me, I would be looking at like, hey, if Dame wants to be a part of this, it’s like a two-year minimum, but is he gonna want to do a multi-year minimum? That’s why I don’t think it happens, cuz for the Magic, like, we just don’t have the cap space to give him like, sure, he’s making $23 million a year from the the Bucks. Could he probably still get 20 plus million a year from a team that has cap space? Yeah. So if he wants to take that 23 million and turn it into 45 million after he’s back, he could do that. But for whatever reason, if he wanted to be in Orlando and wanted to be a part of what the Magic are doing and and and want to help their, you know, title odds, whatever,
you obviously do that. But I give it like a 1% chance
of that happening. I my guess is he either finds some like Western Conference, you know, contender and, you know, like a a team that he’s like, “Oh, if I go to this team, I’m definitely going to get a ring.” That kind of thing. Or he just goes back to Portland and finishes his career there, right? what I don’t understand our magic and please explain like if in YouTube or Twitter comments or whatever why you wouldn’t want to add Dame like that’s that’s the thing that I I’ve seen some people will say they don’t want to do I just don’t understand again it’s farfetched I don’t think it’s going to happen but if Dame comes to Jeff Welman and says hey I’d like to join you guys for $3.5 million you’re telling me you’re saying no I don’t I just can’t see that I don’t understand it if I don’t know I if if you’re going to say, “Oh, it’s going to sacrifice playing time for Anthony Black.” I just I don’t I don’t get it. I don’t know. He’s not going to play until spring anyway. So, just to have him again, have him in the locker room for the next nine months. I think it’d be awesome. But, uh yeah, if you’re against it, let me know why.
Yeah. I I think I read something. I don’t know if it was Chris Haynes or it might have been completely fake to be totally fair. this is not super well vetted, but that like a big part of him might just want to stay home in Portland with his kids while he rehabs and just, you know, take the $23 million this year, kind of rehab on his own dime and his own time and then sign with the team next year and and kind of go from there. I think that that’s probably what is most likely going to happen. But yeah, if I’m telling you that I wouldn’t scream out loud wherever I am if he ends up signing like a multi-year minimum with the Magic, like it doesn’t make sense for him to sign a minimum with a team this year in my opinion just because like just doesn’t seem like he’s going to be ready. And is he’s going to want to just come back fresh off of that and go like right into the postseason? That doesn’t seem like a good idea for a you know 35y old coming off of Achilles tear. Like I don’t know. I will just say it’s not going to happen. But just just f just everybody listening to this close your eyes unless you’re driving. Close your eyes and just picture Damen Lillard in the new black statement jersey. Come on now. That looks nice. That looks nice.
Okay. Does Anthony Black give up number zero? That’s a good question. I hadn’t thought about that. You kind of have to, right? I mean, he’s dame. He’s a Hall of Famer. Like, I don’t know. You gota got
I don’t know. Like, I feel like if a guy’s worn a jersey for three years, it’s kind of tough to I don’t know. Mo Bomba gave up five when Paulo came aboard,
right? But I just, you know, just can picture Dame in in that black statement hitting a big three and, you know, waiting at the wrist and Dave time and Kia Center goes crazy. I tell you what, Dame.
We will give you permission to unretire six if you
Oh my gosh.
I’m just kidding. It wouldn’t be up to us obviously.
Yeah. But if Dame’s like, “Hey, I’ll I’ll come and but you got to unretire six and let’s win a freaking championship.” Go for it.
Sure, that’s fine. We can do I I can I can buy a Lillard six jersey. Sure.
Yeah. I mean, uh, just we’re super deep into silly season. Like, we’re in the deep end of silly season right now. Yeah.
But thinking about like Taius, you know, leaves in a year. You bring Damian and you go from what our bench was to then to Tyus Jones to Damen Lillard coming off the bench potentially. That would just be wild. And
at that point, I don’t know how we’re not like very strong title favorites. Well, we’re inching that way. It seems like every week
on Vegas. Like that’s the crazy part. Like
depending on the site, we’re clearly the uh what are we right now? The third third best have the third best odds in the East. I’m pretty sure it’s uh Cleveland, New York, and then US. I think on most sites sixth best odds
in the league.
Right. Right. But like
like we’re we’re creeping in on the Knicks. That’s the other thing that’s very interesting. Like we’ve really separated ourselves from the Bostons and Philly’s made a jump up there recently. Atlanta’s made a jump recently. Obviously
on we’re at plus 1,200. The next closest Eastern Conference team is Atlanta at plus 3,000,
right? For that’s title the championship as likely to win the title, right? Yeah. Wild, wild stuff, but
wild times that we’re living.
I’m injecting it in my veins right now. It’s great. All right, Taius Jones, hopefully Mo Vagner. We’ll see about Caleb Houston. Obviously, Paulo Bancer, welcome God Sham God.
And can I do one more thing? I know we’re about to wrap the show up.
I have one more side note that this week has really um something we we knew was coming. This week has really made me realize it anymore even more. Okay, with the new structures and the new CBA and all that kind of stuff, we are seeing before our very eyes right now something that is going the Magic are going to face in the next two to three years. We’re seeing it right now. We just talked about Miles Turner that the the Pacers had to make a really really difficult choice to let go of a guy that’s been on their team for 10 years. Um, you think about like the the the consequence of that, like the Dame thing, like Dame’s injured for the next year. So, the Bucks have to let him go and they they um, you know, they stretch him over five years. These teams are forc being forced to make some really, really crazy difficult decisions just to make it work. And it’s really starting to settle in like set in with me that like in the next
come on one to two to I’m just trying to mentally help all Magic fans mentally prepare in the next one to two to three years the Orlando Magic are going to have to part ways
with with players that we really love and that’s that’s not going to be easy. Now hopefully, you know, things are in in a different spot and we’re, you know, still championship contenders in the next 1, two, and three years and all that stuff, but it’s just made me realize like that’s just the reality of the league right now. And it’s just a matter of time till the Magic are in that same spot and we just got to be, at least me, I need to be emotionally ready for that and so I’m just preparing. What a down way to end the pod. Thanks a lot.
Well, it’s not the end cuz I want to hear what you think. like like is
I mean that’s irrefutable. That’s that’s what’s going to happen. The crazy thing to me is just like the salary shrink that we’re seeing. Like I’m going to try to go through Spa Track as quickly as I can here. But back to like the what summer was that? The 20 summer if I’m remembering correctly. Like the year that like Bismac Biombo got a bag. Evan Fornier got a bag. Like Yeah. Evan Forier and Bismac Biombo both got $17 million a year that off season. Jeff Green was making $15 million a year. And now players of that caliber are signing for like 112 million a year and that was 9 years ago and the cap has gone up like $50 million since then. Yep. So part of it is just what has happened with like the Max and like the super max contracts which like everybody wants to make fun of like CJ McCollum and all that kind of stuff but like does Shay Gilis Alexander need to be making $70 million a year while Taius Jones is making $7 million a year? Crazy crazy
to me. Like, yeah, the best players in the world, you know, need to be paid, but like the best players in the world are the guys that are getting the, you know, $10 million a year from five different companies for endorsements and and things like that. So, that to me is like really the interesting thing. But on the other hand, like you see it in in, you know, the the PGA tour with like like Live Golf, you know, like and and these other like Saudi backed like soccer leagues like the biggest stars in the league going to these other places literally for no other reason than for money. So if you then change that dynamic like people have joked about like oh a Saudi basketball league like coming into play like that is going to happen at some point and if you don’t give the best guys in the world the most money there are going to be guy going to be guys that leave like I’ll guarantee within the next 15 years we probably see like a top 20 guy in the league leave to go play in another league somewhere because just strictly because they’re going to pay him $150 million a year, right? Like that is going to happen. But it’s just this is the reality of the NBA and and the all the cap and all that kind of stuff. So I don’t uh I don’t envy Adam Silver. Yeah. And and but that’s why there’s an emphasis on things like next season, right? Like that’s kind of why the pendulum has swung so far for the Magic, right? We get Paulo one more year at 15 million or whatever he is, you know, this coming season. um we got a chance to go for it. You know, I don’t know if you’ve heard, Jonathan, but they say the East is wide open and so uh we hear that a time or two.
Yeah. And so that’s why the Magic are trying to go for it. That’s why some other teams are trying to go for it. Um but yeah, after that, it’s going to be very interesting and we’ll see. But in the meantime, let’s just go win some basketball games this year and see what can happen.
And uh the United States men’s soccer team is heading to the Gold Cup final. Let’s freaking go.
That’s right. That’s right. We’ll see how that goes, too. That’ll be interesting. Who they play in the final? Do we know yet?
We’ll find out later. It’s probably going to be Mexico, of course, but we’ll see. Looking forward to that. Okay, let’s wrap this one up for Kevin Tucker. This has been Jonathan Osborne. You all have been listening to the Sixman Show, and we will catch you guys next time. See you. Thanks for listening to the Sixth Man Show. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and Spotify to get new episodes downloaded directly to your phone. If you enjoyed the show, please take a minute to give us a five-star rating and a review. It helps out the show a lot. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @ sixmanshow. We’ll catch you guys next time. Go Magic. Let’s go.

After dancing around the possibility for almost two years, Tyus Jones is an Orlando Magic. Jonathan & Kevin break down the deal and what it means for Moe Wagner and the rest of the offseason, talk a little Dame Lillard and the God Shammgod news broke while we were recording!

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