The first day of the NBA free agency period went very well for the Orlando Magic.
Welcome to the Orlando Sports Weekly Rundown, I'm David Baumann.
The Orlando Magic re-signed the 22-year-old power forward Aaron Gordon to a four-year, $84M extension (via ESPN and Yahoo!), with no options for early out clauses (via The Athletic).
Gordon, a four-year NBA veteran, made it "official" with this twitter post:
There was plenty of speculation that Gordon, a restricted free agent, could potentially command a near-max deal elsewhere... and then the pressure would be on for the Magic to match the offer.
But no need to worry about that any more Magic fans...
It never got to that point.
Gordon is here to stay.
He averaged 17.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and shot 34% from three-point range last season.
I think Gordon has a high ceiling. If he simply continues to develop at the rate we've witnessed... he could be looking at his first All-Star appearance this coming season.
And this deal is considered a relative steal from the 5-year, $148M maximum contract extension the Magic could have offered Gordon.
Great job by the Magic front office to retain Gordon at a good price point.
Gordon just became the lone 1st-round draft pick holdover from the Rob Hennigan era (2012-16)...
That's because the Magic said farewell to Mario Hezonja, the 5th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft (long gone are Andrew Nicholson from 2012, Vic Oladipo from 2013, and Domantas Sabonis from 2016).
Hezonja, an unrestricted free agent, agreed to a deal with the New York Knicks.
The Knicks now have both the #4 and #5 picks from the 2015 Draft (Kristaps Porzingas and Hezonja), while the Magic have nothing left to show from it.
Hezonja, like Gordon, went to Twitter to make his signing official.
With Hezonja gone, and Gordon coming back...
A legitimate point guard is what the Magic clearly still need.
As of now, the roster looks like this:
PG: D.J. Augustin
SG: Evan Fournier/Terrence Ross
SF: Jonathon Simmons/Wes Iwundu/Melvin Frazier
PF: Aaron Gordon/Jonathan Isaac
C: Nikola Vucevic/Mo Bamba/Bismack Biyombo/Khem Birch
David Baumann is a Sports Columnist for 407area.com and can be heard Tuesdays at 7pm on EK Sports, 96.9 The Game. He can be seen Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 10:30pm on Spectrum Sports 360's Face Off Segment on Spectrum channel 13 or in HD on channel 1013.
Stay connected to the latest in Orlando sports news and events by subscribing to 407area.
