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Orlando Magic face tight roster squeeze ahead of free agency

The Orlando Magic got the majority of their work done this offseason already, well before the offseason began for most of the league.

Their acquisition of Desmond Bane two weeks ago now set off the summer of movement that has already been quite active, even before teams get to free agency. Orlando went from a nice, young team to a potential favorite in the Eastern Conference on the back of this move.

The Magic continued their aggressive offseason with the move to trade up for Noah Penda in the second round and draft Jase Richardson in the first round. Orlando is seemingly going for it.

And the work is clearly not done. The Magic still could use some added depth to fill out their roster. They still need a point guard, and they could always use more shooting.

Orlando has every reason to remain aggressive in free agency to improve the roster.

That goes on top of the decision to retain Moe Wagner and Caleb Houstan.

Both players have Sunday deadlines for the team to pick up team options on their contracts. The Magic will likely decline those options so that they can maximize their spending flexibility -- declining both options will put the team roughly $13 million below the first apron and a few million under the luxury tax, giving them access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception.

Orlando wants to add another big player, but will face plenty of restrictions in doing so as they bump up against the first apron and a higher payroll with extensions for Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner kicking in.

There is another restriction they are facing -- their roster.

The Magic are not only looking to add players, but dancing around the fact that their roster is pretty full, as it is.

"We will try to be active," president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said Thursday after the draft. "Our roster is pretty filled up at this point. We'll target some guys and hopefully have some luck in conversations and see where that goes."

Magic's roster is nearly full, but still has needs to fill

The Orladno Magic currently have 12 players on their roster, including their two draft picks. Orlando seems likely to try to re-sign Moe Wagner and Caleb Houstan even if they opt out. That leaves just one roster spot open for free agents, barring any trade.

Orlando still has a lot of things to accomplish. The team could use another point guard and some more shooting on the perimeter. It still feels like the magic have a few more moves out there.

But in free agency, the team only has one play. It has a full roster as the updated depth chart reveals:

|PG|Suggs|Richardson|

|---|---|---|---|

|SG|Bane|Black|Thompson (TW)|

|SF|F. Wagner|da Silva|Howard|

|PF|Banchero|Isaac|Penda|

|C|Carter|Bitadze||

There is a lot to like on the roster. But certainly, there are questions with potentially relying on a rookie like Jase Richardson to man any significant role. Even if he believes he is a point guard, he has a long way to go to be the backup guard on a contending team.

The Magic should have some faith that a more consistent role will boost Tristan da Silva after the way he played through the early part of last season. They should still be looking for something more certain.

Orlando's bench lacks a solid scorer at the moment.

Bringing back Wagner feels like a necessity. And Houstan would undoubtedly keep a cheap shooting spark off the bench.

If the plan is indeed to bring Wagner and Houstan back on new contracts, only declining the team options to gain access to the mid-level exception, then that leaves only one roster spot. That is just the reality.

No guarantee Magic retain their players

But while it makes cap sense to let them go, bringing those players back is not a guarantee. As everyone is seeing with the flurry of moves for the option deadline on Sunday and some pre-free-agency trades, nothing is certain until players sign on the dotted line.

Jeff Weltman said he is confident they are in a good place with Moe Wagner and Caleb Houstan. But you never know until the market gets set.

"They have the same agent and we are in constant communication," Weltman said Thursday after the Draft. "Those are easy conversations. You can talk to someone early, but the market hasn't been set yet. Those things will unfold as they do. Those guys have been great players for us the last couple of years, and they have earned themselves favor around the league. We'll see what the market looks like and how we build out our team. They are important guys and they are great guys."

It leaves the important question then of what the Magic will prioritize for that last roster spot -- and secondarily, how they fill out their two-way spots, or whether they will actually use those players if the time comes.

It is possible, of course, the Magic lose out on their two team option players.

Maybe Moe Wagner finds a better deal elsewhere that gives him more security -- part of the Magic's problem is that using the MLE hard caps them at the first apron, which makes it harder to add a quality player and re-sign Wagner to a competitive deal. That would open up another roster spot and require the Magic to find some center help.

But the Magic are not only facing a salary cap crunch, they are facing a roster crunch. They have a lot of needs to fill and no room to fill them.

"The market is never predictable," Weltman said after the draft Thursday. "It's based on team needs, based on how much room. But now there are so many more layers to that. You have so many apron restrictions. It has made it much, much harder to navigate. Discussions that used to be pretty easy to figure out a few years ago are now very oblique and obscure. It's tough to figure out how would they do this? It's really unpredictable."

As the Magic approach free agency, they are balancing all of these considerations. And they are walking a very tight rope to complete this roster.

A lot of those answers will be coming soon.

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