The Orlando Magic have re-signed starting center Wendell Carter Jr. to a three-year, $59 million extension, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The deal will pay him $82 million in total with his current contract factored in, locking him in with the Magic through the 2028-29 season.
The contract makes plenty of sense on paper. Carter is the rare center that can both viably defend and make 3-pointers. He is by no means elite in either respect, but he’s hovered around league-average in terms of 3-point percentage on over three attempts per game in Orlando, and while he isn’t an elite rim-protector, he moves well on defense and was just a part of the No. 3-ranked unit in the league. Centers like that are scarce, and teams tend to be very interested in them on the trade market. Getting that kind of player for five years on a relatively cheap deal, even if he comes with medical red flags, is a win.
But notably, the Magic have now re-signed four centers this offseason. They gave Goga Bitadze, who emerged while Carter was injured, a three-year deal worth $25 million in free agency, and also kept Mo Wagner on a two-year, $22 million pact. They then renegotiated and extended the contract of defensive star Jonathan Isaac to pay him $84 million for the next five years in total. With Carter now locked in for $82 million over the same period, they have committed roughly $211 million to three big men.
That number spread across three players, in itself, isn’t enormous. They’re paying Franz Wagner more than that on his rookie extension, after all. But wings and centers are different. Wagner can play in lineups with virtually anyone. Bigs can rarely play together, and so the total minutes available to be allotted to any of them are limited. It made sense to have Bitadze, Mo Wagner, Isaac and Carter together when they were all cheap. Now? It’s a bit harder to justify when they likely won’t all be in the rotation.
Of course, this might be a longer-range decision for Orlando. All of these contracts are movable, and depending on health, could potentially be quite valuable in the cap-crunch environment the 2023 CBA created. Mo Wagner and Bitadze are both on short enough deals that either could feasibly be moved in smaller deals that serve immediate needs if the opportunity presents itself. Carter, through his shooting, and Isaac, through his defense, have specialities that are so prized that if both can manage to stay healthy, they’d each figure to have significant trade value. They could be included in a future package for a star or shot-creator, or they could be dealt for assets that are used elsewhere.
These aren’t decisions the Magic have to make today, but they will loom moving forward. Paying four centers real money in 2024 is unusual to say the least, but for now, Orlando has locked up a rare talent at center to a reasonable deal. What exactly that means for the future of one of the Eastern Conference’s brightest young teams is not clear yet, but it makes sense on the basis of his resume alone.Â
