2017 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far
Jonathon Simmons: 3 years, $20 million (Orlando Magic)
Spurs free agent Jonathon Simmons has agreed to a three-year deal with the Orlando Magic, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 14, 2017
ESPN Sources: Terms of Jonathon Simmons' three-year Orlando deal: $6.3M, $6M and $5.7M -- with partial guarantee of $1M in final season.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 15, 2017
When the San Antonio Spurs rescinded their qualifying offer to restricted free agent Jonathon Simmons, you knew someone was going to snatch him up on the open market. As a young team devoid of game-changing talent, the Orlando Magic did well to scoop him up, even if Simmons is hardly the answer to this organization’s ongoing prayers.
The price tag of this deal was originally unclear, but as ESPN‘s Bobby Marks pointed out, Orlando entered the day with $8 million in cap space, and could have freed up $9.3 million based on non-guaranteed contracts.
Getting one of the underrated two-way reserves in the league for about $6 million a season is even better than expected. “Juice” averaged 6.2 points in 17.8 minutes per game last year and was a revelation in the playoffs after Kawhi Leonard went down. This is a good signing, though it does call into question what the future looks like on the wing for Terrence Ross and Mario Hezonja….
Bourguet Grade: A-