Magic to face difficult financial reality regardless of when season ends

(Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)

It’s no secret the Magic did not finish the regular season where they wanted.

Orlando not only missed out on earning a top-six seed in the NBA playoffs but had to travel for its first game of the play-in tournament, which it lost Wednesday at Philadelphia.

Improving its roster beyond this season, however, will not be as easy as it has been in recent years for the club that hosted the Hornets on Friday night for a chance to extend its season.

Regardless of when the offseason begins for the Magic, the franchise faces difficult questions. The team’s executives will need to figure out how to navigate their financial reality, beyond a potential coaching change this summer.

For starters, the Magic already have a projected $154.8 million locked up in the salaries of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and newcomer Desmond Bane. Those four get more expensive next season as the first year of Banchero’s maximum rookie contract extension gets underway.

Tack on the $18.1 million owed to center Wendell Carter Jr., the $10.1 million for guard Anthony Black, the $7.6 million for backup center Goga Bitadze, the $3.9 million for forward Tristan da Silva and the roughly $5.2 million combined for rookies Jase Richardson ($3.1 million) and Noah Penda ($2.1 million), and the Magic are already facing a total salary that’s just south of $200 million ($199,942,269) — or right below the league’s projected luxury tax line of $200,474,000 for the 2026-27 season.

Meanwhile, Moe Wagner, Jevon Carter and Jett Howard are set to become unrestricted free agents this summer. Orlando also has decisions to make about Jonathan Isaac’s $14.5 million contract that’s non-guaranteed and the club option for Jamal Cain’s second year worth roughly $2.5 million.

With up to five roster spots open to fill should the Magic decline to pick up the options for Isaac and Cain, Orlando will have to work on the margins to find pieces that it believes could fit alongside the rest of its team. Approaching the first apron threshold, which is projected at $209 million for next season, will add to make things more challenging.

Although there will be salary exceptions such as veteran minimum contracts to help fill a spot or two, the Magic won’t be able to be heavy spenders in free agency in their current financial situation. Instead, Orlando will have to explore the trade market — as they did last summer by acquiring Bane from Memphis.

Orlando’s lone free agent signing last offseason, Tyus Jones, was moved ahead of February’s trade deadline. He was shipped to Charlotte (and is now with Denver) to delay when the Magic would begin paying the luxury tax. The goal was to avoid becoming a tax repeater team and get hit with an even higher tax rate if they spent above the tax line for multiple seasons.

In addition to improving its roster for next season, the Magic will have to negotiate with Black this summer. It’s yet to be determined if the sides want to work out a contract extension. The young guard is entering the final season of his rookie contract next season.

Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has often mentioned the financial quandary Orlando is rapidly approaching. It arrives this summer, no matter when the season comes to a close.

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com