OFFSEASON RECAP! Every Orlando Magic Move Unpacked and Its Cap Impact

OFFSEASON RECAP! Every Orlando Magic Move Unpacked and Its Cap Impact

Hello, hello, hello. Thanks for clicking the video and spending a little bit of time. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much. Uh, hit the subscribe button so that you don’t miss any of my future videos. And if you like the video, please hit the like. It really helps the channel. Thanks a lot. Uh, in this video, we’re going to be going through the offseason, the entire off seasonason for the Orlando Magic from when they finished off against the Celtics until today. from what we have so far. I’m going to go through every detail basically what happened, how it affected our salary cap or what uh what effect it had on other transactions in the sequential order that it happened because for many of it had to happen a certain way in a certain order otherwise it wouldn’t have been able to happen. So again, this is the Orlando Magic Nation, your onestop shop for all things Orlando Magic for Orlando Magic fans by an Orlando Magic fan. So let’s get started. So the season ended, we lost four games to one in the first round against the Celtics. And since then, uh Jeff Waltman had the exit interviews where he said that the were in win now mode basically. So that sounds great to all of us. I think a lot of us were a little frustrated that there wasn’t a lot of activity during the trade deadline. Uh we wanted a lot more to happen at least add a scorer like we were looking at Detroit who added Dennis Shruder and wondered why we couldn’t have added someone on the fringes like that that should come up big in the playoffs. So I would you know need this to say a lot of people were not very happy with Jeff Welman at the time. So, a lot of people on the Reddits and on Twitter and all of that were saying that I will we’ll see what happens and I’ll I’ll believe it when I see it. And uh after that, well, we sure did see it. Now, if you look here, the salaries were going to jump. We were going from a lot of flexibility to now things were getting expensive. Fron is now expensive. Jaylen’s expensive. Paulo will start being expensive next year. So this these were the books if we did nothing and if we picked up all the team options. So we had four team options. Mo, Garry’s, Cory’s and Caleb’s. So if we did nothing, if we just brought back everybody and rolled with the punches, hope that everybody had a bounceback year from three and we were just going to have internal growth with no changes. This is what it would have been like. So if you look on the on the right side there’s going to be well just also disclaimer there’s going to be a lot of numbers uh here because again I wanted to explain the salary cap part as well so that we understand because really we need to understand the aprons we need to understand all the exemptions we need to know a bunch of that stuff at this point because now we’re going to be an expensive team and we’re going to have to do all the little finagling to be able to get where we want to be. So again, the salary cap for 2526 is going to be $154 million. Um, if we did nothing again, the active payroll uh would have been $199 million right off the bat. Plus, uh, the cap holds the cap holds in this is going to they’re going to fluctuate a little bit because really technically if you look at it now, the cap hold uh for for Mo is $20 million and that becomes a bit complicated. So, you know, like ultimately these are the figures to an extent. Uh there are a lot of pretty specific numbers, but let’s just say they’re both parkies for the ideas that were for the concepts that we’re working with. Uh so the total the total amount against the cap was $23 million. So we were already over $50 million over the cap. So by being over the cap, we can’t just go out and add free agents. Luckily, there weren’t a lot of free agents or at least not a lot of worthwhile free agents. A lot of guys were on player options, things like that. So, uh there weren’t a lot of people to go after. So, luckily in in that case, but again, we we were trying to go between being consistent, which is what we’ve been the last few years, and going out and improving the team. So I think at that point we kind of were looking at being kind of you know riding the rail between the two of those things. Um the tax uh threshold for next year is 187 million and again if you just look at our active payroll not including the cap holds we were at 199 million. So we were already over the tax. So, not only were we over the cap, we were over the tax. And then on top of that, even then, we were over the first apron by 4.6 million. Let’s let’s just call it 5 million. Uh, luckily, we weren’t over the the we weren’t going into the second apron. So, that was good. We were a little short of that. So, that’s where we started that as of April when we finished the season until June. That’s we had two months there where this was our financial situation. Just to give you a little understanding a bit more on the aprons, we talked about aprons. So the first apron, the second apron, uh the second apron is something that was added to the collective bargaining in 2023. Um so these numbers are old on here. So like the you know the the the amounts of each one of the aprons is old, the thresholds, but uh this kind of gives you a visual of um where the salary cap is versus the luxury tax. in the first apron, the second apron. So, a lot of that stuff happens pretty tight if you look at it in this example or in the old numbers, it’s uh from a lux to from hitting the luxury tax to going to the second apron is really only $18 million. So, we’re talking about a mid-level exception really. So, it starts to get pretty tight. So, again, this is this is like a visual representation of it. Again, the numbers aren’t right for the 2025 2026 season, but this ultimately is what we’re what we’re working with when it comes to the apron. So, you know, that’s something to to visualize the numbers with. Um, then on Father’s Day, we got the big news that we were adding Desmond Bane to the team and we were giving up a hefty sum. A lot of people were saying a little too much. Oh, it’s an overpay. Oh, this and that. So, I’m not here to litigate that necessarily. I think we needed to get off of KCP’s uh salary. So, we had to probably pay one first round pick just for that and then three first round picks. It does sound like a lot, but if the Magic are going to be as good as they hope to be, the they’ll pick will be the picks will be in the 20s. And not to say that they’re nothing because we’re hoping that our 25th pick this year uh pans out and does really well. So, we you you hope that you do the scouting and you get you’re able to find a diamond in the rough, let’s say in the 20s, but uh if we are as good as we think we’re going to be, then at least they’re like, “Oh, they’re late first rounds. They’re not going to be lottery picks, which will be super valuable, right?” So, uh anyh who, that’s what we did on as everybody knows really at this point on Father’s Day. Uh so, yeah, that was what that was the Sham’s tweet. So, this is how it would affected it. So I I put in the top there if Gary and Cole. The reason I said that is that if we didn’t do anything else, if we just traded KCP and Cole plus the picks, we traded them and brought in Desmond, this is what the the salary would have looked like. So we would have uh we were taking on basically even more money. Uh so the active payroll was 199 I believe it was off the top of my head and now it’s we’re up to 2011. So that means we’re even more over the cap and we’re even more over the tax and we’re even more over the apron and we’re closer getting to the second apron. Um so that is why pretty much right after the transaction happened uh that’s why that’s when we released uh we released or we didn’t pick up the team option for Gary and for Corey. So right then immediately we have a tax savings. we have we’re we’re closer to over like we’re already over the cap obviously, but we’re getting instead of being this way, we’re starting to creep back a little bit. Um we’re we have more space before we get to the second apron, we’re now under the first apron and uh we’re closer to the tax. So the tax is an important bit that we’ll talk about a little bit later on. That’s that’s when we basically ended up losing uh Gary and Corey Joseph. Now technically we could have resigned them, right? That wasn’t some there wasn’t something that they were no longer viable. The only thing was then we have to again we had to be very particular about how things happened and when things happen. So that’s why this happened right after the Desmond trade. So from now father’s day all the way until the the draft now we are we that is our financial situation. Then the big day comes one of we given up the 16th pick uh in the draft. So, we only had one one first round pick and then we ended, luckily for us, Jace Richardson ended up dropping in the draft because he his measurements were a bit uh less than what the the draft people like to like to look up. So, he’s he’s a bit shorter than than they would have hoped, I guess. I think because he was he was listed at 63 in Michigan State and he ended up measuring at 6 foot and quarter inch or something like that. So, all of a sudden, right off the bat, boop, that affects that affects everything. So, for us, hopefully the the extra couple of inches aren’t going to be that big a difference and he’s able to continue his his shooting and able to uh use his creativity that he had at Michigan State to bring to the Magic. Anyh who, uh we drafted him and then we also drafted in the second round and the next day, uh Noah Penda. So, those were our two draft picks. We ended up for that pick, we moved up. We had two picks in the second round also this uh this year and in the end we traded those two plus another two uh over to uh to Boston uh to be able to move up to 32 to pick Noah Penda. So now though instead of having four picks that we had, we ended up with two picks in the year. As you saw, the the roster is pretty full really to the at this point. So, we didn’t need to have four new players. Uh, because we are getting expensive, it is important that we should start to really maximize, really hit on our draft picks because we’re not going to have a lot of money to go out and get free agents and to uh, like I said, do to do a lot of the finagling. It’s going to be much easier. So, anytime even a second rounder like Noah, we hope that it pans out and he’s a he ends up being someone that we’re able to be in the rotation that we can count on in the playoffs and and um and continue to grow because he’s on the cheap as you’ll see later on as being a second round pick. The same thing for Jace. uh for Jace, he’s going to be contract controlled, let’s say, or salary controlled for several years, and we’re going to get really expensive in the next couple years. So, those two were brought in. So, there nothing, you know, really is has changed from the from the last amount. Um, this is representative still of Mo being there and Caleb being there at that point. and I just added the the the two ones there. Um, yes. So, like the active payroll ended up end up keep getting less in the end uh because we needed to be able to get under the taxpayer. So, this here I’ve I’ve kept Mo’s and Caleb’s numbers amounts there, but uh they’re not included in these uh in the far right here. So that’s why we have even less active payroll because uh that’s what we end up doing. We end up taking away uh their their two salaries. So Mo’s salary and uh Caleb’s salary, we end up uh declining the team options. So once we decline the team options, then again, that takes it off our active payroll. So now we’re at 177 million of active payroll plus the cap holds and all of that. So basically that gets us under the tax. Now the we’re going to talk about that now like to to use the the tax the non-ax midlevel exemption. So there’s in the salary cap once you’re over the the salary cap then it’s like I said it’s harder for you to get free agents. So you can’t just go and get any free agents. So, what they do is they give you an exemption. So, there’s a couple mid-level exemptions. There’s the the non- taxpayer. So, that’s why here we had to let go of Mo and Caleb’s uh contracts. We needed to decline their options so that we lessened our payroll. So, we got under the tax. By going under the tax, we were eligible now to use 14.1 million dollars in an exemption as opposed to if we were over the tax. So, if we didn’t release uh or if we didn’t decline their options, then the tax we would have been over the tax. And by being over the tax, we’re only able to use 5.7 million to sign the player. So, that’s why we had to do that then. we had to get rid of those contracts so that then we had access to an extra $9 million or 8 point something of that exemption in the end. So that’s why at that point now we don’t have Mo, we don’t have Caleb and we haven’t signed the two rookies yet. So that’s where we are with uh with the salary cap at that point. Then then free agency starts. So, we’re in free agency. We’re able to get uh we’re able to get Ty Ty Jones, which is or Tai, I’m saying Tai, it’s Taius Jones. We’re able to get Taius Jones from the Phoenix Suns. He didn’t have a great year last year. Um he still was able to shoot and everybody calls him a a floor general, right? We needed a point guard. That’s what we needed. That was one of the big things that they talked about obviously in the exit interviews. Shooting obviously is the number one, but another thing is is to have a person that’s going to be the one that’s organizing everybody once they come in and uh and that’s that. So really as if you’ve watched any of my other videos that I talk about it for me it’s more it’s more gonna is shooting is going to be the thing that’s going to be most important. Um I believe that he should start and not come off the bench and I would rather have Jaylen come off the bench. That’s a whole another topic that I’ll probably bring up again in a in another video. Obvious. It’s not going to happen because Jaylen’s making $35 million a year and Tai is making seven. But for he’s not making $35 million a year the whole contract for Jaylen. This is his one high year. And then after that it lessens to 25 million next year, which if you if you’ve seen some of the salaries from some of the role players that are getting now, 25 million is uh can be someone coming off the bench. It’s a high-end bench player. But anyway, that’s kind of where I where I stand on that. But um again, his shooting is going to be the big thing. Otherwise, uh just him hopefully organizing it. Hopefully, we have a new offensive scheme or a different offensive scheme where the point guard is going to be a bit more involved and it’s not just Fron and Paulo and sometimes Jaylen having to run into the teeth of the defense all the time and and passing it out. Again, we’re going to have guys that are going to be able to shoot now with Desmond Bane and with Taius, but let’s try to hopefully we have a different offense that’s going to be more tailored to uh more ball movement and having the ball have energy. So, this is what actually happened. So, Taius took $7 million, one year, $7 million. So, if you add that $7 million here, uh before we were at 177, now we’re on at 184. All the other things happen from that. We’re still under the tax. we’re under the aprons, all of that other stuff, right? Um, so in that way, it’s uh it’s not that big. The the big deal from it though is that I mentioned before there were two different type of mid-level exceptions, right? There’s the big one, which is the non- taxpayer one at 14.1, and then the taxpayer one at 5.7, I believe, because he took more than the 5.7. Now, we’re going to be hardcapped at the first apron. I didn’t explain earlier than some of the other some of the other slides if you would have noticed um the second apron the 207 million that’s that’s showing there that was in red that was because because of the Desmond Bane trade where we we aggregated salaries or aggregated players in a trade we were now hard cap at the second apron that means we could only get up to the se the second apron that’s why it was in red before I didn’t mention earlier. So now um now because Taius took more than $5.7 million, he took $7 million. Now that hardcapped us at the first apron. So now in I’ll show you in the next uh in the next bit how it would have been if he only took 5.7, which was the maximum for that exemption. Um, but yeah, so that’s why now all of a sudden instead of being hardcapped at the second apron, which is what happened at the end of the Desmond Bane trade, since we sent both Cole Anthony and KCP, we we added two players together. We sent them out to get one player. Because we did that, we were hardcapped at the second apron. Now with Tai taking more than the tax pyramid level, now we were hardcapped to the first aprons. Now that gave us now it’s more important where here it only it says 10.5 million. Now at that point we only had $10.5 million to spend like for uh bringing back Mo and Caleb and signing the rookies. So at that point we had to sign four people three or four three is the minimum. Four would be where we were where we are at 15 roster spots. Um so we had to we had to sign that sign that many people with that amount of money. So that really changes. So when it comes to looking at the negotiations for all that, it seems that we really wanted Taius because that’s how we were able to like it had a lot of ramifications by giving giving him that extra $1.3 million. If he had taken 5.7 then everything obviously we would had a little bit less in salary. Taxpayer would have been a little bit less all of that. Then the apron the first apron would not have mattered as much. We could have then gone into the first apron and gone over the first apron basically and still as you see here in red, we would have been hardcapped at the second apron from the Desmond Bane trade. So that’s why even just that 1.3 million was a big deal because then now we’re hardcapped at the first apron instead of the second apron. So that gives us less flexibility to be able to offer money to Mo and Caleb and then sign the rookies. the rookies, they’re kind of slotted into their into their their amounts, into their salaries. So, that one is like you can kind of guess what it was. For a long time, we we thought Jay’s was going to be $3 million for at least this year when I talk about the rest. And and Noah’s because he’s a second rounder, it’s it’s a negotiated thing. It’s not necessarily as locked in. And I’ll talk about that a little bit when we get to that. But that’s that was the difference between seven and 5.7. And that’s why it was important um him getting seven. Then after that, we signed Jace. Uh we signed Jason. Like I said, it’s that one is pretty pretty straightforward. 2.983 million. So again, now since we’re hardcaped to the first apron, now we only have 7.5 to spend on Mo, possibly Caleb, and Noah. Then the news came. We were all super excited. Uh, it was all on the on the subreddit, online, everything. Everybody was very excited that we were able to get Mo back because obviously Mo is somebody that we’re it’s really important. I would say if Jaylen’s the heart of the the team, I would say Mo is the soul of the team. He’s been here through the whole entire rebuild. Um, and he’s done he’s done he’s done wonders to grow his game and he’s very impactful off the bench. So, we were very happy to have him back and once we add his salary on there. The reason Taius and Mo right now are showing as a different color is because theirs is not official. It’s not official until July 6th technically. So, as when I’m recording this now, it’s not July 6th just yet. So, that’s why they’re that. So, but with Mo, we add Mo on there. Now, again, all the amounts add by an extra five million right on the dot. Now that that puts us into the tax, which is something that the Magic haven’t paid in quite a while. So it sounds well the tax is something that we can look at obviously we could always get under the tax. So the the tax isn’t by the first day of the season, it’s by the end of the season. So, at some point next season, if we wanted to get under the tax, uh, then, you know, if for whatever reason they traded Jet or they traded Goa or something like that, it would just take one trade and then we would be back under the tax. So, then they were able to save a little bit of money on that. But, the the team has spent before uh the the team or the the owners have have spent before when we’re contender. We haven’t really been a contender for quite a while. So, that’s why it’s been a while since they paid the tax. up. Uh that’s the that’s why that is. So now at this point we only have but again we’re hard kept at the first apron. That’s why it’s red 195. Now we only have about 2.5 million. We’re if I’m a hundred couple hundred thousand off that is what it is. Uh obviously for you and me that’s is not it is what it is but for this scenario it is it is what it is. Then the same day as uh Mo signing, then we have Noah signing, which was great. And that at least brings us up to the 14 guys. One, two, three, four, five, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. The minimum on a team has to be 14 when the season starts. uh you can get under like to 12 or 13 for only a couple weeks there, but you so you need to have 14. Last year we had 15. So right now we’re only at we only have about $1.2 million. 1.2 million. That’s that’s not even you can’t even sign a uh veteran minimum at that at this point. Especially if they have multiple years of service, then you can’t really can’t really do that to the reason Noah got 1.272 million is through the second round uh player exemption basically. So there’s a it’s kind of a grid that basically says if you have zero years of service, this is how much it is. If you have one year of service, this is how much it is. It’s it’s a grid. You can do something else. it gets super complicated. So, we’re not really going to talk about it here, but uh that’s that’s why he ended up getting that. Again, it’s kind of a negotiated thing, but they used the exemption on that. So, that’s where we got to 1.272 million. So, now Caleb, like I said before, they can’t they can’t really even offer him the 1.2. Uh that’s that’s not something that they can do. So, the only way we’re going to be able to bring back Caleb is if we do another transaction. So, either we do a trade and we bring back less salary, we free up salary that way. Otherwise, we stay at 14 roster spots and we we still have our two ways. So, Eton Thompson right now is is already signed and um I’m assuming through the the summer league they’re going to grab the other two. So, we can have a maximum of three, I believe, two-way players. And right now, we just have one. So, that’s probably how we’re going to fill in the roster, unless Jeff’s got something else up his sleeve because he’s been he’s been wheeling and dealing, giving around draft picks, just willy-nilly. So, we can always if you if you read Twitter, if you read the subreddit, uh people are always talking about Jonathan Isaac moving or go uh or Wendell just because there’s a lot of centers. If you’ve been watching the free agency, centers have been kind of they been at a premium again as like if it’s the 90s. Uh so, we’ll see what what happens. There were a couple more trades today, but it seems like I would think that the Magic are pretty much done at this point unless they are able to add to the team. Uh we need to have Goa because or a third center just because Mo, we wouldn’t know when he’s going to be back from injury. So, it would be foolish, I would say, to do that unless we’re going to bring back somebody cheaper uh just to free up space so we can bring back a Caleb or another veteran at the minimum. So, uh, yeah. So, that’s that really we’re we’re stuck at the first apron. We only have about 1.2 million to offer, which is nothing because, well, nothing again, nothing in the NBA terms is not enough to be able to bring in somebody. So, just to give even more of a recap of the recap, uh, we can see who was signed. So, we brought in Desmond, Jace, Noah, and Ty. Yes. I don’t know why I want to call him Tai like Ty Lawson or Tai and we brought in Taius and then we resigned Mo and we released KCP unfortunately we had to release uh or we traded away KCP and Cole into Desmond Bane uh transaction Cole was it looks like Cole’s going to be getting out of the deal with Memphis somehow. I don’t know if it’s going to be a buyout or they’re going to try to trade him. Who knows? I would I would say probably on the sixth we’ll know about it. And then again, we declined the team options on uh Corey, Gary, and at this point, well, we did let go of Caleb’s team option, but we don’t know if he’s we’re going to be able to bring him back at some point. And then on the coaching front, just to put a little bow on it today, we were we’ve got a we got a new announcement about an addition to the team. A couple days ago, we added the player development coach from the Dallas Mavericks, God, Sham God. We’re adding him to the the coaching team here. And he’s apparently gonna have an an expanded role is what they said, an expanded role instead of just instead of just being a player development. coach. It seems that he’s going to be more involved. What does that mean? Who knows? Um, so that everybody was excited about that because he’s a he’s a legend in, you know, in in New York and he he played at Providence and he he has a special dribble called the Sham God. It’s even named after him. So, he’s he has a lot of cache around the league. So, that became a kind of blew up on Twitter. Uh but kind of more quietly uh we have Joe Prunty the he was a coach at Milwaukee, an assistant coach with Milwaukee. He’s been with the Suns. He’s been with with Milwaukee twice. He’s been with Brooklyn. He’s been around for a while. Uh he’s won a few championships with the Spurs years and years ago. when it sounds that he’s the offensive mind or he’s going to be an offensive coach that we’re going to be that we’ve all been hoping for and talking about. Again, no offense to the the current coaching staff, but uh just we’ve been in the bottom 10 um the bottom 10 of the NBA and offense since 2012 or something like that. So, we need definitely some offensive firepower. We’ve got it the talent now. we’ve added with shooting with Taius and with Desmond Bane and with Jace if Jace is able to get on the floor. Who knows how much he’s going to get on the floor. Um, so we have that at this point. We have more talent on the team. We have more firepower. Now we need the schemes or now we need the way to free these guys up so that Paulo and France can become all NBA players like they’re meant to be or all stars like they’re meant to be. Um, so yeah. So, I would say that’s the that’s the recap of the whole off seasonason. It’s a that’s is probably going to be one of my longer videos. So, thanks for for sticking around and seeing all the progression of the uh of the offseason. I’m going to be going to the summer league. I will be in Las Vegas for the summer league. I don’t know how much basketball I’ll be able to see. I’m going to be going for the sports business classroom. So, uh, I’ll be able to understand a bit more about the salary cap and a bit more about scouting, things like that, so that I can add to the channel and, uh, I’ll be able to provide you guys even more insight on what coaches look, what coaches look into, what the front office does for salary cap, because this channel again is for you. So, if you have any comments, please put it down and in the comments just what’s good, what’s bad. I know that someone mentioned the audio. Um, I’m I’m going to be traveling around soon, so I I’m not going to have my my mic, so that’s why I’m trying these guys here. We’ll see if they work. But I really appreciate you spending time and just hanging out and clicking on the video. Please hit subscribe so that you get the upcoming videos that I’m going to have. We’re going to try to do these daily. I don’t know if they’re always going to be daily, but uh that’s that’s the that’s going to be the efforts that we’re doing. Again, while I’m in Vegas, I’m gonna be very busy. So, likely uh mid July, I might not be posting as much. But once we get back, I’m gonna have a recap of the summer league. We’re going to have player profiles. I’m going do some rewatches for some of the u some of the old games that uh playoffs or famous games that have been in the franchise history. deep dive into the franchise to kind of uh put the kind of chapters of the 37 years that we’ve had. This is the 37th year. So, the 36 previous kind of put the Dwight era into into reference or basically to to put the Shack and Penny times and to put the the quieter times that we had in the mid 2000s and 2010s or sorry, in the 2010s. 2000s were pretty good. um just so that we kind of put a context to each one of these and what happened and why and all of that. So I’m going to be looking at all that stuff and be able to provide that to you uh so that you you have a little more understanding of the the team and understanding of uh just the history of everything that we’re we’re going to and all the history that we’re building towards because now the team is on the upswing. Everyone says it’s time to win and they’re putting their money where their mouth is. So that’s that’s a great thing as a fan. That’s all we could ever ask for. So again, thanks for spending your time. If you have, you know, any questions, anything, you can reach out, put it down in the comments, and I will get back to you. So again, this is for you. So if there’s anything that you um that you’d like, uh just let me know. Thank you very much, and I hope you have a great night. Thank you for watching.

What Happened to the Magic This Offseason? How the Magic transformed their roster this summer. Magic Fans Won’t Believe These Moves!

The Orlando Magic traded and drafted their way to a winner.
In this video, I’m going over the entire NBA offseason for the Orlando Magic. From the end of the Celtics series to today, I go over every single detail. We’ll discuss the latest Orlando Magic news and where it leaves the team.
Included are the Desmond Bane trade, the drafting of Jase and Noah, signing of Tyus Jones and resigning of Moe Wagner. Not to mention the additions to the coaching staff with God Shammgod and Joe Prunty.

It is going to be a great year. Go Magic!

0:00 Intro

0:58 Start of Offseason

6:18 Desmond Bane Trade

9:06 The Draft

11:46 Declining Moe and Caleb

14:27 Tyus Jones Signing

20:42 Jase Richardson Signing

21:03 Moe Resigning

23:13 Noah Resigning

26:43 Recap

27:45 Coaching Additions

30:55 Outro

Note: I make a mistake when talking about Jalen’s salary for 2026-27, he is still making 30+ million that season.

#nbaoffseason #orlandomagic #nbatrade