Orlando Magic: They won’t be able to move Evan Fournier
By Luke Duffy
2. His contract
It starts with Fournier’s contract, and more importantly than that, the one that is going to follow. Fournier is making $17 million next season (as well as this season), in what will be the final year of his deal before hitting unrestricted free agency. The longer Fournier is a Magic player, the shorter his rental period with another team would be.
Would he be an upgrade for a contending team looking to win it all? Absolutely, it’s just what comes next that’s the problem. Fournier has a player option on his contract next season. You better believe he’s picking it up. He could opt out in the hopes of getting a longer deal and security, plus the free agent class of 2020 is not one of the more loaded years.
But despite what a lot of Magic fans think, Fournier is still comfortably good enough to pick up the player option next season, and then snag himself another deal in 2021. Where this becomes a problem, particularly for his current employers though, is deciding what to pay him, and how much that eats into what else they can do.
Vucevic got his $100 million last summer, part of the reason he too is going nowhere. Gordon was signed to a new deal before that, and Markelle Fultz is going to be up for an extension before long. Bring Fournier back too and, that’s your core. Just like it is right now. How is that going again? So when the idea of a trade is brought up, which in the case of Twitter is an hourly occurrence at this rate, we need to realize that there are plenty of factors at play here.
It’s ironic, because Fournier is having his most complete season as a pro. Now 27, he is the Magic’s best chance at generating offense on any given possession, and he shoots the ball from deep and gets to the basket really well. There’s not a lot of holes in his game on that end, he’s just playing with a lopsided roster.