1 Offseason Mistake The Orlando Magic May Already Be Regretting

It's been a relatively quiet summer for the Orlando Magic.

After nearly pulling off an improbable first-round win over the Detroit Pistons, they blew a 3-1 lead and promptly swapped head coaches, hiring former Spurs assistant Sean Sweeney to replace Jamahl Mosley.

That doesn't mean there wasn't some questionable decisions, however.

Orlando is doubling down on its 45-37 group from last year, but one particular player they are sticking their neck out for could be one they regret.

Not stretching Jonathan Isaac did not make sense:

By March, it was all but certain that the Magic were eventually going to waive Isaac, whose contract for this next season was partially guaranteed. He was having the worst year of his career and wasn't impacting the Magic's rotation at all.

They eventually waived him one day ahead of when his $14.5 million contract would have been fully guaranteed for 2026-27, although one caveat allowed them to immediately bring him back upon clearing waivers: Orlando did not waive-and-stretch him.

The W&S provision allows teams to reduce payroll by "stretching" someone's guaranteed salary when he's no longer a part of the team (dead cap). Depending on when the move was made, the remaining guaranteed salary would be distributed equally over double the years left on the player's contract, plus one. In Isaac's case, he had three years left on his contract with just $8 million guaranteed. Thus, the $8 million would be sliced equally into $1.14MM chunks over the ensuing seven seasons.

Instead, the Magic just kept his $8 million guarantee on their books for this season and eventually re-signed him for the veteran minimum ($2.5 million), only saving ~$4 million instead of the $13.4 million they could have saved.

To me, that doesn't make much sense.

The Magic likely want to keep their future books as clear as possible, but $1.14 million is a marginal chunk -- especially since they entered the summer with little-to-no flexibility to begin with. Stretching Isaac's contract would've been a ticket to free up the taxpayer mid-level exception ($6.1M) while still being able to still sign, say, Jevon Carter and Nikola Vucevic, and remain below the second apron.

Instead, the Magic are now roughly $2.5 million under the aforementioned apron with 14 players rostered, with Isaac essentially accounting for $10.5 million on their already-loaded books.

Not to mention, the former No. 6 overall pick is a very questionable fit with this roster. He's had trouble staying healthy with myriad knee injuries over his career. Still, as dynamic as he is defensively, Isaac's a poor 3-point shooter who adds practically no value as a connector.

He's a good rebounder and disruptive defender, but doesn't provide a complementary skillset offensively; his fit is quite clunky. Alas, I'm curious to see Sean Sweeney's plan for him, but I still think the Magic made a rash decision by showing blind loyalty for a player that doesn't fit instead of someone who could have.

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