Franz Wagner gets the max! | Orlando Magic invest in themselves

Franz Wagner gets the max! | Orlando Magic invest in themselves

France Vagner has the bag new contract for the Magic’s Ford why he got the Max and whether it was the right decision plus we’ll talk about how the magic are committing to their foundation and why it was always Pao and France we’ll get to all that today on locked on Magic you are locked on Magic your daily Orlando Magic podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and you are indeed locked on Magic today is July 8th 2024 my name is Phil rosik I’m the senior writer over at Orlando Magic daily.com of course follow me on Twitter Philip rror on today’s episode of on Magic France Vagner gets the bag we’ll talk about magic giving fron Vagner the max why this was the inevitable conclusion the inevitable decision how the magic are now committing to their foundation and why this always had to be the play we’re going to get to that coming up here in just a moment but first we want to thank you again for making lockdown magic part of your day every day no matter when you listen to us whether it’s first in the morning whether it’s right when we upload we truly appreciate you making lockon magic part of your day every day remember there’s a great lock on podcast covering every single team in the NBA just search for locked on and the team you’re looking for the lockon podcast Network it’s your team every day today’s episode of lockon magic is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more with summer in full swing the sports kind of dry up a little bit not the way we like them to but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long visit fanduel.com to get started first I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend for those who are able to celebrate um uh if you just just I hope you had a great weekend period um I did think about coming on Saturday to address the France Vagner uh deal but ultimately I had family in I had family in town family events to go to for my birthday weekend and it it it didn’t end up coming up I figured we can wait till Monday to get into the fron Vagner deal but undoubtedly when it hit the wires Friday afternoon this was a humongous deal this is a big deal the biggest contract ever handed out in Orlando Magic history just a product of inflation more than anything else um but a fiveyear $242 million extension that can grow to 260 million dollar extension a Max extension for fron vogner just just like forget the raw number like again I think everyone is still wrapping their heads around how much money there is in the NBA right now um Pao is going to get more when he signs his extension next year because we’re expecting a 10% increase in the cap um next season but France voger will get 25% of the salary cap in 2025 again this is the last year of his rookie contract so he’s still under his rookie contract right now he will be under his new contract in the 2025 season it’ll pay him $38 million in that first year it’ll cap it’ll top off at I believe 50 50 or 51 million again don’t get so wrapped up in the numbers don’t get so wrapped up in everything else this is about you know this is just the reality of the NBA but more than anything else a Max contract is a status a Max contract is the team telling you as a player you are one of most important players on the team you know you really only have spots for two Max contracts Paulo’s going to get another one um Jaylen Suggs will get 30 plus million dollar but as a function of importance who you decide to pay where you decide to invest your money that is a major statement and look there’s been a lot of narrative going on about the decision to Max fron vogner and I will admit it is a risk you know I think there was room for debate I think the magic could have very easily said hey you’re going to put down a deal for 35$ 36 million something so close to the max but not quite the Max and tell him like prove us wrong this deal is going to be there for you when you get back it doesn’t matter that deal is on the table we we are cool with it no matter what happens barring catastrophe um you know that Deal’s on the table go go go play for your Maxs they could have very easily done that and that might have actually been the right decision but having said that if you believe a player is a max player and and and with the numbers that fron Vagner puts up 19.6 points per game last year uh career high he had four four almost four assists per game like six seven rebounds per game such with such an important player with a player who makes such a big impact for this team they didn’t go get Paul George they didn’t you know if they ever were in that running they didn’t go acquire another star player because they believe they have one and look at the end of the day you got to believe in your guys uh that ultimately that’s where I come down on this if you’re debating whether fron is a max player or not and he’s certainly in the running and in the conversation to be a max player it’s it’s it’s a it’s a debate worth having you can agree or disagree with it but it is a debate worth having if you are having that debate and you ultimately decide yes you better just pay him now if you’re deciding no on that it’s not that you should ever give up on a 22y old but that’s when you got to start shopping that’s when you got to start thinking is this really the guy at the end of the day this is what the this is the statement the magic have made we believe in what we’re building you can see that in every single thing the magic did this offen we’re going to talk more about that tomorrow but in every single thing the magic did this off season they doubled down on themselves they doubled down on who they are we will talk about this tomorrow a little bit more we’re going to get to summer league on Wednesday U we will hear from the summer Leaguers on Monday Monday afternoon um but at the end of the day the magic made this clear full-throated statement we are on the right track we believe in the players that we have all throughout the roster they keep investing in them and we’re going to invest in our best players at the highest level now we will talk about what France has to do to make good on this Max because there is a lot of criticism out there on this deal and I do want to address that but at the end of the day what the magic did is they committed to their Foundation they said Jeff welman is a Jeff welman and the DeVos family and Alex Martins and everyone who makes those highlevel decisions that are million dooll decisions they all essentially looked at this roster and said we are moving in the right direction not only are we moving in the right direction we believe this will only get better and that is why the magic are sitting here that is why the magic are sitting here preparing to make this humongous offer to make this humongous deal this is why the magic are committing to this person and this player it’s both they believe in what fron Vagner can become they believe in what poo banera can become and if you want to read between some lines jayen Suggs did not participate in the US sele team scrimmage today against the US national team there’s a lot of people that believe a contract extension is coming for Jaylen sugs I I am a a little bit more skeptical on that I think that there is a lot of wiggle room to say like okay here’s a $31 million you know let’s just per year there’s a $31 million $32 million per year deal on the table play this season out let’s see if he can get it to 3334 that may not be how the magic operate Jeff welman is going to invest in who he believes in he believes in fron Vagner palan car is gonna get Max next year too Jaylen Suggs is going to get a very very rich contract you’re gonna be surprised you know people keep saying there’s no way Jaylen sugs is a $30 million player yes he is he is going he is looking for Emanuel quickly money and I am not you know I would not be surprised if he gets it and if the magic are being proactive with these young players and ining these deals now so they don’t have to worry about them this Summer that’s not you know that made that is them believing in this team and believing in this foundation and what reason wouldn’t they have to believe in it why wouldn’t they believe in this team they keep getting better they keep doing they keep improving and winning and this is an investment in future progress this is an investment in what the team will be become as much as anything else the magic believe in fron Vagner and that is why he is getting a Max contract but like I said there are a lot of questions about this there are a lot of questions about whether fron is actually worth the max we will explore what he has to do to silence those doubters coming up here in just a moment but first it’s time for quick word from our friends over at FanDuel look I love sports but summer is a little bit light on the sports like even the 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you don’t want the shouting or you don’t want to hear about a certain player who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers summer league team because he seems to be getting all the coverage despite not doing very much then head on over to lockon sports 247 streaming channel to get all the can’t miss anal is opinions and news on the biggest stories in sports from the local experts who know their team best even if you’re even if you end up listening to uh to analysis of that certain Lakers player you’re going to get the best analysis of that certain Lakers player because it’s coming from someone who knows his team inside and out check out the lockdown sports day 247 streaming Channel on YouTube with the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day you know look we are dealing with very big dollar amounts I’m not going to pretend otherwise France voger is getting a contract that’s going to start him at about $38 million and by the time we get to year five it’s going to pay him $50 million Pao B Caro in the first year of his new contract is gonna get paid about $42 million if the cap Rises at the level that we’re expecting it to rise these are insane raw numbers and like I’ve like I think I’ve been trying to warn everybody we’ve got to start thinking of things in term of percentage of the salary cap rather than that raw number because the raw numbers are not what they used to be Tracy McGrady got paid $17 million in his max contract Grant Hill’s 167 million contract was really difficult for Orlando to work around under the salary cap in the early 2000s we have come a very very long way in fact you know when you look at the numbers they’re line and Magic are I think the only team in the NBA that has not paid a player $100 million total nicoa vui’s 4year hundred million extension that he signed I believe in the summer of 2019 that is actually the third largest contract by total dollar amount the magic have ever given out Rashard Rashard Lewis’s uh I believe it was a five or sixy year deal um that he signed in 2008 um or 2007 for the 2008 season is the second largest France vagr now with the richest contract in Magic history that like that these numbers are changing dramatically where the league where the league would usually see the salary cap bump up one two% every year we are going to see a 10% increase to the salary cap every year for the next SE for the next five six seven years the new TV deal is going to be massive I want to warn you about these numbers why do I love the Jonathan Isaac deals so much that deal is going to be a bargain if he is healthy and there’s there are injury protections on that contract there are a lot of there are a lot of non-guaranteed years later on in that contract um at least according to According to some reports um that deal is going to be a freaking bargain if Jonathan Isaac is as good as we think he if he’s gonna get paid I think $15 million on the on the last year of that deal $15 million of a $170 million cap is nothing it’s nothing like I I want I want you to know that and I want you to feel to understand that but look Max contract is a status symbol as much as anything else everyone you know there are there have been max players in the history of the NBA who been ridiculed for being max players seven time All-Star Joe Johnson the fact that I have to say seven the fact that I call him seven time All-Star Joe Johnson um that’s partly a joke because he was the highest paid player in the league for very very long time and people thought that was ridiculous even though Joe Johnson’s a great player deserve that deserve the max contract that he got you get the point um it is a status symbol and there are questions of whether fron Vagner deserves to be in that in that group a lot of people are going to point immediately to his game seven um and say look the guy went one for 17 in a in a must-win game might have been his first playoff sure he had a solid but not spectacular series had a big game had a big game six Magic The Magic understood and they said this after the after the game we are not where we are without fron vogner we’re not going to put this put this one on him um but that was a high-profile game a nationally televised game on ABC one of the you know first ABC game the magic have had since Dwight Howard that was a big moment and frons did not perform in it so there are a lot of people that are saying a guy that’s doing that is not worth the max I’m sure I’m going to have people in my comments who will agree with that state statement um again at the end of the day it’s the magic believing in their guy it’s the magic believing in the player that they developed that they that they know will bounce back from that um I think Sam Vini noted that fron voger went one for 10 in the elite eight for Michigan came back and had an incredible run uh with the magic in his rookie year so he is someone that does you know again now now we have a pattern but he is someone that bounces back from these things and plays a whole lot better we expect him to bounce back from his on his three-point shooting which is going to be the biggest key to this whole thing you know I don’t think fron has to prove anything to anyone um he just has to keep getting better and again we’re going to talk more about that here in a minute but this this is kind of the reality of things who else were the manic gonna spend a Max contract on you know if if you know now is the time to spend because it’s gonna be cheat you know it’s not going to hurt you later on as much but the magic are trying to build two stars you know they they want they want to be a team that drafted their two stars they didn’t go after Paul George they didn’t throw a ton of money at Klay Thompson you know there there are a lot of players that they you know there there are a lot of opportunities where they could have added another high money guy and taken fron off of that MAX Line you know I still have people saying why didn’t the magic go after Deonte Murray this is one of the reasons why because Deonte Murray is a near Max Sky now you’re messing with the pecking order at the end of the day this is what the magic did the the magic told the world and told the team fron is our guy we are a Pao and fron team those are our guys and with the opportunity to pay them like the stars that they are because when you’re under rookie contract you’re not paid uh you know you’re you’re cost controlled with the opportunity to pay theyy these guys like the stars that they are the magic said this is our guy and so now as we look ahead to you know obviously now fron has to perform you have to see him get over 20 points per game you know I want to retire that stat um as well he has to get back to shooting 34 35% from three you know can’t be a sub 33o shooter as a as a wing player that contract is gonna be very hard to offload or very hard to move around if frons doesn’t perform at the level that the magic expect him to that’s just fact um you know all this stuff has to come together uh in that way and obviously obviously there is a lot of work to do and obviously FR has to go out and prove it you know we’re going to see him in the Olympics we’re gonna see if he’s made any progress if if he’s in a better place uh than he he’s improved or if the shootings come back around if a little bit of time off has helped them or not um but at the end of the day France just has to get better and really that is that is the secret sauce to the whole thing you know we we could talk about everything else that’s going on with the Orlando manager we can talk about free agency we can talk about all of it at the end of the day it starts with the two stars and again that’s what this is about it’s about investing and promoting and believing in this Foundation you built the future was always Pao and France and I want to talk a little bit more about that coming up here in just a moment but first today’s episode of lockdown magic is brought to you by our friends over at betterhelp look we’ve all had moments where we’re scrolling we’re doing the Doom scroll on social media we we do that it it it it it’s part of our Lives now and it’s really easy to look at at least the facade that people put on social media and think why am I not that happy why am I not feeling these Instagram moments comparison is the thief of Joy it’s easy to Envy other people’s lives especially in today’s internet world people might look like they have it all together but in reality they probably don’t therapy can help you focus on what you want instead of what others have make it about you not about someone else and that’s so so so important I can’t every one struggles with this I struggle with it you probably struggle a little bit with it making sure you’re centered on yourself therapy is something that I have used throughout my life to help me deal with problems both emotional and and everything else just to get everything out on the table and think about it from a different lens if you’re thinking of starting therapy give better help orryy it’s entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suited to your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get match with a licensed therapist and switch therapist anytime for no additional charge until you find the right person for you stop comparing and start focusing With Better Health this is betterhelp.com lockon NBA today to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com lockon NBA so the Magic’s offseason’s essentially over the magic have one more roster spot left but at least by my cat mou cat mouth math I can’t speak at least by my cat math um the magic have spent all their cat room uh if I’m not mistaken they use the uh they use the uh uh room midlevel exception to sign googa baz that’s that’s the magic spent all their money um and that was before the reports came out that they use flat rates on Gary Harrison Mo Vagner so I’m pretty sure that they used all of their money so they’re essentially done and you know a lot of people that I’ve talked to are very underwhelmed by the magic off season now you know you go to ESPN there’s a lot of positive thoughts about what the magic did a lot of them are saying uh you know that the ma you know that the magic got a got got a good player in kavus cwell Pope to add to their starting lineup and then just secured their depth and so we’ll we’ll talk a little bit more about what the Magic’s offseason sets up we’ll probably get to that after summer league um we’ll talk more about what this this summer really did and what the summer really was um but you know typically when a team has $50 million in cap room you’re thinking big and I get that I I understand that and the magic are in a position where they’re a good team now it should feel like they can make bigger waves in free agency and you know we all I I I think I tried to warn everybody that the magic were probably not going to win the headlines on uh in free agency that’s just not the way that they operate and it just didn’t seem like where they felt their team was we talked to Jeff welman about this a little bit and he made it abundantly clear and we talked to him Saturday they introduced kavus cwell Pope we gotta talk kavus cwell Pope we’ll talk about that on tomorrow’s episode of lock on Magic um but Jeff Wiman said we’re kind of running on two tracks here the first track is yes we are trying to win games we are now a playoff team we want to keep getting better we want to keep advancing but the second track is also really important that second track is we are a developing team we are still a young team we are still invest in our young players and we want to give them every opportunity to succeed that is where this team is at so the magic had to find a way to get better and still compete in the playoffs and still compete and grow in that sense but they didn’t want to impede what they already have built you know again why did the magic give a Max contract to fron Vagner because they believe he is their second best player and can be the number two or or can be a star on this team they didn’t want to go get a Paul George who would take shots away from him they didn’t want to go get it to jonte Murray who’s going to be a more ball dominant point guard it’s why we’ve been why I’ve been very skeptical of any interest in Anthony Simons or Trey young the magic don’t want to stop the path that Palo banero and fron Vagner are on they don’t think they’ve hit the de a dead end where they need to change things up or slightly adjust things to get the most out of these players they believe there is still room to grow in so many areas with these two players and so regardless of which path the magic ultimately went down regardless of whether they did make the big splashy move or not the magic were always dependent on one thing whether the magic can get out of the first round can get home court advantage can get to the Conference Finals has always been dependent on one thing happening and that’s poo banero and fron Vagner getting better why are the magic investing a Max contract in fron Vagner because they believe fron vogner will get better and him getting better elevates this team to another level that is the bet they have made pal ban car is gonna get a Max like I don’t think we’re I don’t think we’re pretending otherwise the whole project is betting that Palo banero will be one of the 10 best players on this team would not surprise anybody if he’s an all-nba player next year and gets to 30% supermax I I think that would be tough but it wouldn’t surprise me he’s that good so the future for this magic team always has depended on the development of these two players we can talk about everything else we can talk about free agency Acquisitions we can talk about depth we can talk about oh the magic need this that or the other thing everything starts with how much better Paulo and fron get and yes the magic may have missed an opportunity to add significant players it wasn’t a great free agency class and clear clearly there were not many options for trades I would argue one of the things the magic did this summer is they made themselves a lot more attractive on the trade market or a lot a lot more a lot more easier to work with on the trade market but it all depends on how much better poo banero is how much better fron Vagner is they could get an external shock sure but deante Murray is only going to be as good as Paulo and frons are and that is the heart of the thing the magic know these are two young players a 22 and a 21y old who are still developing who are still figuring out the limits of their games and stretching their games as far as they can go and so far every time they’ve stretched their game out it’s looked good so the magic aren’t getting in their way they want them to continue doing so they want them to continue exploring and continue to have the freedom frankly to still make mistakes I I I how many times did I say during the playoffs I don’t care about pao’s turnovers pao’s turnovers were really bad in the playoffs but I was like I don’t care about them because this is a learning experience that’s going to make him better and as that series went on he did get better with his turnovers he made smarter reads he made smarter passes he made smarter decisions I didn’t care I I still largely don’t as long as you’re learning from your mistakes and growing from them I’m fine with making them at this point still that’s the case with fron that’s the case with Pao because it’s still all about them getting better that at the end of the day is the key to how the magic get better cavius callwell Pope helps he’s going to make this a better team but if the magic want to get out of the first round it’s on Pao and France if the magic want to rise to Championship Contender it was always on Pao and France and that’s why they’re the Magic’s to max players I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of lockon magic course find me on Twitter Philip rore OMD subscribe to the podcast and apple podcast your tuned in himay Google play Spotify Odyssey and all phone podcast to your podcast enable listen device you can also find us on YouTube to search for locked on magic thank you for subscribing to that by the way we are continuing to to increase our subscribers so I really do appreciate that for the latest on the Orlando Magic be sure to check out Orlando Magic daily.com you find us there on Twitter at om Magic daily and for even more Orlando Magic content including the cap math as as I saw it on F on Friday check out my patreon page Orlando magichub at patreon.com Orlando magichub and as always thank you for your support now that you’re done listening to us be sure to check out the lockdown sports day 24 47 streaming Channel you can find that on Amazon Fire TV and YouTube locked on sports today is here for your 247 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of lockon plus our national shows covering every League find lockon sports they now available on the free Fire TV channels app we’ll be back again tomorrow for another episode of lockdown magic unless another contract is signed we’ll chat about what we learned about contav is calwell Pope as he made his trip to Orlando and officially become a member of the Orlando match we’ll talk about that we will hit summer league on Wednesday’s episode of lockedown magic do not think I’ve forgotten about summer league and then we’ll see you from Vegas later on this week but until then for Orlando Magic daily and lockd on Magic this has been Philip Ross Reich we’ll see you again next time for another episode of lock on Magic

The Orlando Magic are giving Franz Wagner a max contract, the richest contract in team history. It was not an inevitable decision for a good young player. But the Magic are signaling they believe wholly in what they are doing and betting on themselves and their young players with everything they do.

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