Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2026 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Orlando Magic.
Free agent signings
- Jevon Carter: One year, minimum salary. Fully guaranteed. Re-signed using minimum salary exception. Waived right to veto trade.
- Jonathan Isaac: One year, minimum salary. Fully guaranteed. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
- Nikola Vucevic: One year, minimum salary. Fully guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Trades
- Acquired the draft rights to Izaiyah Nelson (No. 51 pick) from the Wizards and cash ($1.25MM) from the Bucks in a three-team trade in exchange for the draft rights to Felix Okpara (No. 46 pick; to Magic).
Draft picks
Two-way signings
- Colin Castleton
- One year, $91,000 partial guarantee (will increase to $339,441 at start of regular season).
- Izaiyah Nelson
- Two years, $91,000 partial guarantee (will increase to $339,441 at start of regular season).
- Second year non-guaranteed but will increase to the maximum two-way protection amount on August 1.
Departed/unsigned free agents
Other roster moves
- Exercised team option on Jamal Cain ($2,584,539; non-guaranteed).
Salary cap situation
Note: Figures are rounded to one decimal place.
- Operating over the first apron ($209MM) and below the second tax apron ($221.7MM).
- No hard cap.
- Team salary: $217.9MM (tax); $219.2MM (apron)
- Above luxury tax line by $17.4MM; above first apron by $10.2MM; below second apron by $2.5MM.
- Taxpayer mid-level exception ($6.1MM) available.
- One traded player exception frozen/unavailable (worth $7.7MM).
The offseason so far
While the Pelicans have probably taken the most flak of any NBA team for their offseason inactivity, it’s hard to imagine a much less eventful summer than the one the Magic have had. Orlando hasn’t made a single transaction since July 1, when the team completed a series of two-way and minimum-salary signings to fill out the fringes of its roster.
President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman strongly hinted back in May that it wouldn’t be an especially eventful offseason in Orlando. Weltman bemoaned the fact that injuries to key players – most notably Franz Wagner – derailed the Magic’s season and prevented the team from playing spoiler in the first round of the playoffs after it won three of the first four games against the top-seeded Pistons.
Weltman said at the time that the Magic were a top-five defensive and top-10 offensive team when they were healthy and expressed confidence that the roster is made up of players capable of elevating their games in the postseason. He went on to add that he expected the front office to take “smaller nibbles” at the roster rather than making any big swings, and he suggested that a head coaching change would likely be the most impactful move of the offseason.
After taking over as Orlando’s head coach following a 21-win season in 2020/21, Jamahl Mosley improved the club’s record in each of his first three seasons on the job, then made the playoffs in 2024, 2025, and 2026. But Mosley’s inability to get out of the first round in any of those three years led to his ouster, and the Magic decided to bring in the top assistant from the Western Conference champion Spurs, hiring Sean Sweeney as their new head coach.
It’s hard to predict how a first-time coach will take to the job, but Sweeney has been viewed as a future head coach for years and has compiled an impressive résumé as an assistant, helping both Dallas and San Antonio reach the NBA Finals in the past three seasons. It will be interesting to see what sort of changes he implements in an effort to ensure this roster – led by Wagner, Paolo Banchero, Desmond Bane, Jalen Suggsand Wendell Carter Jr. – reaches its ceiling.
Of the 15 players on standard contracts who finished last season on the Magic’s roster, 13 are set to return for 2026/27, including veteran point guard Jevon Carterwho signed a new minimum-salary contract in free agency after joining the club on the buyout market in February. The team is making a big bet on improved health luck and Sweeney’s ability to get more out of this group. Still, there are a couple of minor changes worth noting.
For one, after Franz’s brother Moritz Wagner received a lucrative two-year deal from the Nets, the Magic had to go out and find another big man to fortify a frontcourt led by Wagner and Goga Bitadze. They ended up reuniting with an old friend, bringing back Nikola Vucevic on a minimum-salary contract.
Vucevic has never been a great defender and isn’t the same sort of All-Star level scorer he was in his prime, but the 35-year-old is still a talented offensive player who can make three-pointers. His floor-spacing ability will bring an important element to the frontcourt of a Magic team that ranked 24th in made three-pointers and 27th in three-point percentage last season even after acquiring Bane.
Additionally, the Magic waived forward Jonathan Isaaceating the $8MM partial guarantee on his $14MM salary for 2026/27, then re-signed him to a new minimum-salary contract.
Using the stretch provision on Isaac’s partial guarantee would’ve allowed Orlando to reduce his cap hit all the way to $1.14MM, saving the team a significant amount of projected tax money. But taking that route would’ve resulted in Isaac’s dead money staying on the cap for seven years and would’ve prohibited the team from re-signing him. He’s a situational player at this point in his career, but the Magic value his locker room presence and his fit in certain matchups, so being able to bring him back was an important consideration for the front office.
Between his $8MM in dead money and his new $2.45MM cap hit, Isaac will still count for about $3.55MM less than he would have on his previous deal, which will allow the Magic to operate below the second apron threshold.
Up next
Even after accounting for the Isaac savings, the Magic are just $2.5MM away from the second apron and would move to within about $47K of that threshold if they sign a minimum-salary free agent as a 15th man.
Orlando isn’t hard-capped at the second apron, so the front office doesn’t have to worry too much about another addition eliminating its rest-of-season cap flexibility. Still, carrying a full 15-man roster into the season would make an already expensive roster even pricier after taking into account the tax penalties, so I’d expect the team to leave that last spot open for now.
Before addressing the 15th roster slot, the Magic will need to figure out whether they want to replace their 14th man. Jamal Cain played well in a limited role last season, but his minimum-salary contract is fully non-guaranteed for now and actually carries a slightly larger cap charge ($2.58MM) than a newly signed minimum deal would. Still, my working assumption is that Orlando will hang onto Cain, who started the team’s final three playoff games in the spring after Wagner injured his calf.
Three Magic players are extension-eligible — Bane and Bitadze are up for veteran deals, while 2023 first-round pick Anthony Black can sign a rookie scale extension between now and October 19.
I wouldn’t count on extensions for either of the first two guys. Bane still has three years left on his current contract, so we’re probably still a year or two away from the Magic seriously engaging in negotiations on a new deal for him, and Bitadze is a backup who could become a mid-season trade candidate if the organization wants to try to reduce its luxury tax bill or duck the tax entirely. Keeping him on his $7.6MM expiring contract will make him easier to move.
Black, however, is worth keeping an eye on. The 22-year-old guard keeps getting better, having established career highs in several statistical categories last season, including points (15.0), assists (3.7), and steals (1.4) per game. It’s a safe bet the Magic want him to be part of their future, but they already have over $180MM committed in 2027/28 to their five starters, so it remains to be seen how aggressive they’re willing to be to lock up Black.
The Magic may be nearing the same point the Nuggets reached this summer, where they’ll have to decide whether they want to trade a starter or risk losing an up-and-coming young player in restricted free agency.