Orlando Magic: They nailed Wendell Carter Jr.’s contract

With the NBA season upon us, the Orlando Magic recently announced that center Wedell Carter Jr. had signed a four-year, $50 contract. The first deal since his rookie contract when drafted in 2018 by the Chicago Bulls. The timing of this deal was interesting, and also gives some idea as to how the Magic are going to construct their roster.

With a guard-heavy rotation that will need to be figured out down the line, getting Carter signed now to be the physical presence inside (while also providing more outside that we will return to) was the smart choice. He won’t be 23 until next April and has plenty of time to grow into the player the organization hopes that he can be.

From the perspective of the Orlando Magic, this is another brilliant move from the front office.

That contract is a steal for a player like Carter. There is no doubt that he could have gotten more money on the open market if he had been allowed to hit unrestricted free agency. That might even be more true by the time this coming season wraps up, one in which the Magic are going to lose a lot of games, but where players will get to showcase themselves.

So to lock Carter up at this stage is huge. To have done it for the kind of money that they have is even better for a variety of reasons. It starts with stating the obvious, that Carter won’t make mammoth bucks that will make adding veterans and other players harder as the Magic hopefully continue to improve on the road back to the postseason.

It also means, if the organization decides to change pace or go with different players, that Carter Jr. is extremely moveable as well. This is no way to look at a young player with a ton of potential who has settled well in Orlando and who it is hoped will give his best years to the franchise. But if you’re looking at it from that perspective, it is still a big win.

Who knows what kind of free agents or blockbuster trades could go down in the future? It is generally accepted that the only way for the Magic to attract top free agents is if they already have a star player in place. Jalen Suggs for example could be that guy, but until that happens, the Magic need to smartly add talent any way that they can.

Again Carter could be one such player, but the other more realistic way that the Magic can get top-level talent is through a trade. Obviously, Ben Simmons isn’t the kind of kind they should be targeting (or is he?), but you never know who could become available next. What if this team is ahead of schedule, and the likes of a Bradley Beal wants out?

Wendell Carter Jr. could be either the foundational piece or the trade piece the Orlando Magic need.

Then through trade, you can go and get them, with Carter the ideal kind of young player who still has plenty of upside and is on a team-friendly contract that you can start to build a deal around. It is this kind of flexibility that the front office has really embraced since taking over, and there is going to come to a point when it really pays off.

For now, though, let us think instead of Carter as that foundational piece. What this deal also does, is allow the Orlando Magic to maybe bring back another center in Mohamed Bamba. Up until recently, it looked like they would have to pick between the two, such was the belief that sinking large contracts into two big men who have yet to really assert themselves was not a good idea.

It isn’t. The nightmares from the Nikola Vucevic/Bismack Biyombo/Serge Ibaka era still linger in Orlando. But Carter’s new contract brings with it the possibility that Bamba could also be offered a contract. Given that this is the best he has ever looked during the preseason, doing so may not be a bad decision at all.

Like Carter, it would at the very least allow the Magic to control the asset. A terrible way to address a player for sure, but also something to consider when trying to create a competitive franchise. Bamba’s trade value isn’t exactly sky-high either, even with some improvement lately, so the number he might ask for and what he is offered could differ.

It does mean that the Orlando Magic should have more power at the negotiating table than the player, and that could be part of the master plan here. We’ve seen some of Carter and Bamba playing together during the exhibition games, and while that seemed unlikely, it has also looked really interesting and a possible combo they could use to bamboozle smaller opponents.

So while it always seemed like it would be a battle between Carter and Bamba to be the center of the future, they could both be the answer, and that is down to the deal negotiated to bring Carter back. It could yet be the first domino to fall in a series of moves for this roster, and once again highlights just what a forward-thinking and great job the front office is doing.