EP 534. Let’s Win A Championship – Orlando Magic Podcast

EP 534. Let’s Win A Championship – Orlando Magic Podcast

This is the Sixman Show, an Orlando Magic podcast with your hosts Kevin Tucker and Jonathan Osborne covering all things Magic Basketball by fans for fans. Go Magic. What’s going on Orlando Magic fans? You guys are back with the six-man show. Today is July 10, 2025. Jonathan Osborne here as always. Joined by my co-host Kevin Tucker. What’s up, man? What’s up, bro? Uh yeah. How are How are we feeling? Feeling good. Having a good week. Feeling fantastic, man. Uh huge week for the Magic. Obviously, as we continue to talk about free agency, the big news came through, folks. We talked about it. We’ve been waiting on it, but it doesn’t make it any less special in my opinion. When that notification came through that Palo Bank has signed a 5-year, $239 million, could be as much as $287 million contract with the Orlando Magic. Um, I know again, we talked about it. We knew it was coming. We were expecting it. It was not a surprise whatsoever, but that doesn’t make it any more important or any more special of a day obviously for Paulo and his entire family. But Magic fans across the world, how are you feeling? I’m I’m great, man. I mean, couldn’t have summed it up better myself. It’s a really big moment and it’s it’s not something that happens certainly for Magic fans. Hasn’t happened in a very long time up until last year, of course, with Fron. And now, in the span of two summers, we dish out two uh max extensions for guys that were on rookie contracts. And then it it’s just kind of crazy. Like again, we knew this was coming and it’s it’s, you know, wasn’t a surprise, but the fact that it’s done, signed, sealed, delivered, as they say, uh it’s very exciting. And then combine that with all the other things that have happened over the last month, it’s just truly like the icing on the cake, the cherry on top, whatever you want to call it. Uh and yeah, it feels like we’re ready to go. Ready to go into this the the the dead of the summer, if you will, like where there’s no more moves and all that kind of stuff, but we’re going into it. spirits really high and and ready for October. For me, what made it even more exciting was the fact that, you know, Paulo could have just signed the extension, gone back into like the quiet of the summer, and just not it just could have just been another day to him. Yeah. But he tweets, “Play the MF song, let’s work.” Mhm. And then follows that up a little bit later on his I guess the kids call it a fina, right? like is not as public Instagram account, right? And he’s in the um is that Washington University? Yeah. Yeah. University. He’s in their gym and uh you know he’s bouncing a ball around and talking about, man, it’s so crazy where this little brown ball can take you. You know, it can bring you your wildest dreams, bring you all over the world, all this kind of stuff. And then he says, “Let’s win a you know what dang championship.” and he kicks the ball across the gym and starts screaming in celebration and let’s win a freaking championship, man. Like, let’s do that. That is seriously one of my favorite videos I have ever seen. I’m I’m not even exaggerating. Like, in the realm of Orlando Magic basketball to hear our star player after he just signed that number one, you know, he didn’t it just makes it more clear that he’s not just signing it for the paper. He’s not just signing it for the money. And that’s part of it, right? Like we’ll talk about the specifics here in a second. He’s going to make a lot of money and and good for him and all that stuff. But there’s another part of it that is that much bigger to him and it’s about winning and it’s about winning in Orlando too, which again obviously there’s a lot of Magic fans that are terrified that eventually he’s going to go to Seattle if that team ever happens. But at least for right now, Paulo is locked in on winning a championship or multiple in Orlando. And yeah, that video I I texted you like as soon as he I saw it. It was like that felt like like a Jordan commercial, you know, like a after they win a championship and you know, all the different sponsors of the different athletes, you know, they run their commercials, you know, in in the next commercial break. And that sounds like one of those like it’s a voiceover. I saved it right away. I think you saved it, too. Like spoiler alert, that’s coming back at some point. If the Magic ever pull this off, we’re pulling that out of the archives. That’s going in our highlight reel. Uh yeah, that was really really cool. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, I know we tweeted it out, so definitely go check out our our Twitter account and yeah, you will not be disappointed if you watch that. Just to hear like our our star, you know, and like to hear him say like, “Let’s win a championship.” Mhm. like the the last time that anybody on our team genuinely thought that was a possibility right 13 14 years ago at this point like the fact that he’s you know we could talk about Fron obviously incredible player but but Paulo is in our opinion the best player on the Magic in in in most people’s opinions he just has a little bit more of that like it to him I think not that Fron obviously isn’t as incredible and is is right there with Paulo, but there’s just something special about hearing Paulo say, “Let’s win a championship.” And he said a little bit more emphatically than that, but you know, this is a family show. We try to keep it a little PG here. But man, if someone in our Discord said it perfectly that Paulo just has this like crazy like quiet confidence to him that at times like isn’t so quiet, right? like in a moment like that and hearing that he believes that right now we have the like what the Magic have built and what they’ve put together like right now we have what it takes to go out and win a championship just that belief has to be echoed throughout the organization and throughout the locker room right now. And man, we can sit here and and fantasize about it and talk about it all we want and we certainly will, but to hear that literally everybody is so bought into this, there’s there’s not many better feelings in life. I’ve been watching this team for a long time and we haven’t been in this area, this territory since since Dwight. Yeah. And it’s for me like obviously there’s the part of him talking about winning. That’s great. But I thought his tweet was like almost just as special because it wasn’t just like, “Hey, Orlando. Happy to be here. Thanks for the money.” You know, he he indulged in the Orlando Magic culture, if you will, like saying said the thing. Play. Yeah. He said the thing, the thing that fans love, play the song again with more colorful, you know, letters between it. But you said MF letters. Yeah, that’s why I said letters. Um, but yeah, like he he he’s bought into like this culture and this fan base and this community and he he wants it I think just as much as us, which is really cool. And so yeah, I don’t know. I want it bad. I I I want it so bad. I want it so bad, too. Uh clip, by the way. Yeah, I I Yeah, as soon as I say that, I know that’s going in the group chat. Um, but yeah, I mean, he wants to be here. Fron wants to be here. Jaylen wants to be here. Desmond Bane wants to be here. you can go down the list. Um, to have, by the way, all four of those guys locked up for the next four years. That’s not nothing. Now, obviously, we haven’t seen them play basketball together. We got to cross that bridge in October, but at least for now, to know that this is our core and this is set up, at least for the the near future, is very exciting. And again, the fact that your star player is like the the head of the the snake, if you will, when it comes to all this, and he’s he’s on the front lines. He’s not just battling on the court, but off the court, he’s bought in with what you’re doing. It’s it’s it’s so exciting. And yeah, I’m ready to do it. Let’s do it. Let’s go to war. And again, for him to use the word championship like let’s not win games. Let’s do this thing like let’s go win a championship. The fact that that is now that is the goal. It’s always the ultimate goal, but different teams at at different points have different goals. Some teams it’s to lose as many games as possible so that they can draft or have a chance to draft Cooper Flag or whoever. Some teams it’s like, hey, us making the playin would be a great year. Other teams it’s let’s make the playoffs. Let’s win a a first round series. Let’s win a second round series. The the goal now, especially with the status of the Eastern Conference. The goal now is to win a championship. And Indiana just showed like if you would have told me three months ago that it would be Indiana and OKC in the finals. I would have told you OKC sweeps like convincingly Indiana glad that they got there. They don’t have a chance. And the fact that Indiana was able to take OKC to seven games and if Tyrese doesn’t go down, who knows what happens. Maybe they win the entire thing. I think they do. Anything is possible at this point. I don’t care the circumstances. is I don’t care who the opponent is, like whatever, as long as the Magic are relatively healthy, they have a ch they have a legitimate chance to win a championship. And let’s talk a little bit about the contract details. Now, again, $239 million, you know, if he makes an allNBA team or wins defensive player of the year this year. Also, there’s language like if he wins MVP. If you win MVP, you you made an AllNBA team. So, I don’t really know why they include that language. Uh I guess it’s Yeah, it’s kind of weird that they do that. Uh but that’s like saying, oh, if you win a championship or you make the playoffs, like, well, you know, you kind of have to do one to do the other. Anyway, I digress. If he does that this year, then it goes from him having being paid 25% of the cap, it goes up to 30% of the cap each year, which right now everything is really estimates of what the cap is going to be in those years. So that’s why it’s up to $287 million. The thing about this contract, however, is that it is five years. This is where the paranoia and the trauma of Magic Fans comes into play. the fifth year 203031 season is a fifth year player option. Everybody goes he’s gonna opt out and go somewhere else. Really what that means and what it most likely means is that he’s going to be able to opt out of his contract a year early and resign for another supermax like fully leveraging the amount of money that he’ll be able to make in that third contract. I think everybody needs to remember that moves do not happen through free agency anymore. They happen through trades. Paulo is not going to leave any money on the table. Now, unless things just go crazy, something happens, he wants to be traded before like this contract is up, you know, for whatever reason. But that’s not going to happen. And when we get to the end of this, he’s going to say, I’m going to opt, you know, out. I’m going to resign, you know, the 5year super max, whatever that is. He’s probably going to be making like $80 million a year like legitimately at that point and then after that, you know, who knows what all happens. But this isn’t a thing of like, oh, he only wants to be here for four years kind of thing. It’s like, no, he’s being smart and he’s going to be able to make, you know, an extra, you know, $50 million or $60 million in that next contract because of of this, which is a crazy thing to say. like, hey, you’re probably going to make $287 million and you’re worried about making more money, but like leaving $60 million on the table in any context is a crazy thing to do. Yeah. Yeah. It’s pretty insane. And this also, by the way, isn’t unprecedented, right? Like Trey Young and Luca Donic have the exact same setup with their extensions, which obviously they haven’t hit that team option yet. I think they would hit that in like uh 26 27 season. That’s their team option season. So, we haven’t gotten there yet, but it’s not unprecedented. It’s it’s designed to benefit the player, yes, but not in the sense of, oh, it gives them an out after that, which again, technically it does. You’re right. But you’re not going to leave that much money on the table. Number one. Number two, like you mentioned, teams just don’t have and won’t have by then the cap room, like the monstrous cap room that we’ve seen in years past to go out and and sign guys that are on these crazy, you know, max level deals. It’s just not going to happen. And so, I’m not worried about it at all. Again, the the language of it obviously scares Magic fans a little bit, and I understand it. But if you sit down and look at it, look at the circumstances. I I’m just trying to encourage Magic fans. There’s nothing to fear with this. Of course, it’s the NBA. Could your superstar demand a trade tomorrow? Absolutely. That that should be not something that Magic fans should fear, but you should be more scared of that than of this, right? Again, it’s not going to happen anytime soon, but if it does happen, it’s going to be through trade and not through the team option or sorry, the player option. I think I was saying team option earlier. player option that Paulo has in a few years. Yeah. Like in order for that to happen, it would have to be a team that’s absolutely terrible, like a team like Brooklyn had a ton of cap space this year or like for example, if there was like, you know, a league expansion, like an expansion team, you know, if they were terrible and had a ton of money, you know, like Seattle. I’m just Yeah. No, but like seriously like the Seattle thing, even if you are worried about it, you have to realize that Palo would be leaving what we assume is going to be a really competitive team in the prime of his career to go and play for a team that would be absolutely terrible. He would be giving up years of his prime, say, “Oh, I’m just going to go home and and play in Seattle.” Like this is a dude who, you know, four months, five months out of the year, like can go home to Seattle like whenever he wants, right? And really like at any point for the rest of his life at any time that he just wants to go home to Seattle. Like he can get on a plane for, you know, what is that a seven, eight hour flight, whatever it is to get there. I I don’t fly that far. So I don’t for him. Yeah. For him on his his PJ it probably, you know, five or six. Well, whatever. But like it would it would just be it would be completely unprecedented for something like that to happen. So I I don’t think that we have to worry about it. But I do think it’s important now to talk about what all of this means for the Magic. And right now, at least for this version of this team, this this is the all-in move. We’ve been we’ve been talking about it, right? If you guys remember, you know, Avengers Endgame, Doctor Strange, you know, holding up the I guess was that Endgame? Yeah, he’s holding up the one finger, you know, Infinity War. He says, “There’s 14, you know, million scenarios. We only, you know, win in one.” And then he looks to Tony and he holds up like the one finger. This is the moment we’ve been telling you all about preparing you for that at some point there is going to be an all-in move. And Jeff Weltman and the Devos family and the Orlando Magic decided the time is now. Paulo and Fron, do you think this happens if we don’t have like the Fron leap that we had last year? Like if we were still kind of questioning like, hey, can Fron truly be the second best player on a championship team? If we that was even a question at this point. Do you think this happens? Like the move for Desmond Bane and just like, you know what? Hey, we’re going all the way in right now. I I actually think so. And honestly because going into last year, at least for me, I I felt confident that Fron could be the second best player on a championship team, but not like a 1A 1B type second best player on a championship team, if that makes sense, right? Like France proved this past season, especially when Paulo was out, that he could be like the the guy on a very very very good team, maybe even a championship team. I don’t know. Um, so for me, I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I do think if there’s anything that factored into the timing, it is the landscape of the NBA right now. A a little bit of that I think could be the injuries that we’ve seen in the East. You know, Boston, Indiana, namely as well, I mean, Philly, you could throw Philly in there, but that’s been going on for a while. Um, I think those injuries may have factored into it, but I think more so it’s it’s the whole landscape of the league, right? Yeah. There’s OKC. They look like they’re going to be really good for a long time, but outside of that, there’s a lot of competition for the the 50 to 58 win projected projected teams, right? And I think of that group, any of those teams have the potential to go win at all. And so I think that may have more impact on the timing that Jeff Waltman and company, you know, factored into this. Um, but outside of that, I think the the thing that might be equally as important to the timing is the salary cap situation, right? Like with the Paulo extension and all that kind of stuff, like the window to make moves was shrinking bad, right? And so it was pretty much either do something this summer or I mean honestly even next summer would be would have been a stretch because of the the Jaylen and Fran, you know, contracts kicking in and stuff. So, I think that probably had more to do with the timing than Fran’s performance last year. But, I think all of it combined certainly is uh what led them to make the move when they did. And I for one, I’m glad they glad they made the move when they did cuz like I said, I think they were running out of time. Uh and if we didn’t do something this summer, you know, who knows what it would have looked like, but uh yeah, that’s that’s a good thought. I hadn’t really thought about that, but I think that’s probably what kind of led them to this. No, I’m right there with you. I think even if you weren’t convinced he could be the second best player like you still had to make a move whether it was okay like we actually need to go out and find a guy that we are sure can be you know the second best player on a championship team and maybe that is Desmond Bane right you know maybe there there’s going to be some things in the way that the Magic can play that can maybe unlock him a little bit more and give him some more opportunity I I I think his counting stats talking about Desmond probably aren’t going to be much higher But I think there’s an opportunity for him to be potentially like even more, you know, efficient than he has been. And he’s not going to be taxed as much because Yeah. He had Jaw and he had Jiren Jackson, but you know, Jiren’s obviously dealt with injury stuff. Jaws dealt with other injuries and other stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And and other stuff. And you know, as long as Jaylen’s able to stay healthy, you know, Jaylen, France, Paulo, all those guys able to, you know, really this is the best team that Desmond’s played on as well, I think. So, just super exciting. And yeah, as we go through the the next four years, like th this has got to be when the Magic are able to get it done in my opinion here. And if you don’t, then you come to the end of of this, you know, fouryear stretch and then moves start to to be made. I I wouldn’t expect it to be Paulo. Probably wouldn’t expect it to be Fron, but you know, Desmond Jaylen, like hopefully it doesn’t get to that point. But, you know, if you’re able to make moves and and keep Paulo and Fron together, that obviously is going to be the the most important thing, I think. But yeah, like th this is where we are now, folks. It’s like we are in a a different level of expectations and and standards and and accountability where even as early as this year this team underperforms, there’s going to be changes. I I won’t, you know, talk about exactly what I think those are just yet because we haven’t seen what this looks like. But the Magic don’t flirt with the championship in the next two years, the roster, management, coaching staff, all of that’s going to look different. This is this is where we’re at now. The organization is shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars a year to win a championship. They’re not doing this to be competitive, to get more nationally televised games, to be talked about more on Ringer podcasts. They’re doing this to win a championship. And if they don’t think what we have in place is getting them there, they are not going to sit by and and spend, you know, millions of dollars in luxury tax and apron and second apron costs each year. they’re gonna make real moves that they think are going to move the needle for this team. And it’s both incredibly exciting and terrifying at the same time that now we’re like it’s it’s kind of like we’ve had this I don’t want to call it a lottery ticket because a lottery ticket it’s much more obvious whether or not you won. But like we have this thing that we’re like, well maybe someday it could turn into something and we’ve just been kind of holding on to that promise and now it’s like oh well you know now it actually has to become something and if it doesn’t then the hope is gone, right? Like we we don’t get to hold on to that hope anymore. It’s just it has to happen now. That’s kind of the reality that we’re there. So do do you feel that that you’re excited and also kind of nervous for this? That’s what I was going to add. you talked about like the ownership and there is a financial stake here, right? Like as as we continue through however many years of this this four years of having all these guys locked up and owing them a lot of money, however many years we go through with that, the ownership is going to have to fork out even more money as each year goes by. And so, like you said, there’s a financial pressure there and the ownership is not going to put money towards something that’s not working. Right. But what I was going to say is you add to it like the external pressure aka the fans, right? Because you put together a roster like this, you hype it up, you do all this, you you you push towards it for years, like you said, like we’ve been gathering assets, we’ve been doing all this stuff. You we we Magic fans see us push all these chips in, grabbing, you know, Desmond Bay and Tus Jones and good draft picks and rebranding and all that kind of stuff. It all boils up to expectation. And so that’s where we are now. That’s where we’re going to be for the next four years. And as you and I in the Orlando Magic content space, but more specifically really deep into the Orlando Magic fan base, which we are both obviously a part of, it’s very exciting, but it’s also like we’ve seen when this fan base when things haven’t gone well, even with lower expectations, right? And and I don’t mean this specifically of the Magic fan base. Like it’s any sports fan base, right? This is the one I care about the most. It’s the one you care about the most. And so when things don’t go well and you have low expectations, things, you know, would sometimes get feisty, but they they never really boiled over because we were kind of where we expected to be. I think of this past season is the prime example, right? Like two seasons ago, you won 47 games. So we go into last season with really high expectations, but the injuries happened and so that derailed it. So the season didn’t go as we expected, but it also was understood because we had excuses. Well, now there are no excuses, right? Obviously, barring some freak year with a bunch of injuries like last year again, there are no excuses. And so if things don’t come together and come together pretty fast, that’s the other part that we haven’t even talked about yet. Like adding Desmond Bay into the mix is a big change, right? Do I think with like 16 games in a row in December? Well, that’s what I’m saying. Is he Is he going to click right away? I don’t think he’s going to have a problem. But if he doesn’t, it’s it’s going to be interesting, right? How long can you know that stuff happen? I don’t know. But to answer your question, yes, it’s exciting. It’s terrifying allin-one, but I think it’s going to be very interesting. We interrupt this episode to bring you a word from our friends over at Jamh Hot Chicken. Jam Hot Chicken is bringing jams, culture, and hot chicken to the heart of Winter Park. Jam Hot Chicken is a Nashville and LAp inspired hot chicken shack locally owned and operated in Winter Park, Florida. Located at 400 West New England Avenue, sweet 13 at Hannibal Square. Be sure to follow them at Jamha Chicken on all social media. Head over to jamhickenfl.com. You can find their menu and order online. You can even order on the Uber Eats app. So, if you don’t want to drive over, but your local Winter Park, you want it brought right to your door, download the Uber Eats and find Jam Hot Chicken there. Jam Hot Chicken, not only is the food delicious, but they’re dieh hard magic fans supporting the show, supporting the community every chance they get. So, be sure to head over to Jam Hot Chicken. 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And then I will also remind you and myself the same thing I have to remind myself every year even though I’ve been watching this team for 20 something years. That’s a 82 game season. Yeah. And even though like it’s still so And again, it’s funny talking about this in July because when you’re outside of the season, you just get into these like daydreaming moments and stuff when you’re in the grind of the season. I’m so bad at remembering it’s an 82 game marathon as opposed to just reacting to whatever game happened tonight, win or loss. Like I don’t know it. We got to keep that perspective. But that perspective I think just narrows down even more right now because yeah, the stakes are high and and it’s there for the taking. That’s the other part, right? It’s not like this team got really good and oh, we’re really good at the same time as a bunch of other teams in the East. Like it’s going to be a battle. Well, and not that it’s not going to be a battle. Of course, it’s going to be a battle, but I mean, like, it feels like the right time to do this, right? The timing feels right. And so, again, all those things just add to, and I know we’ve said this on the last episode, but man, why do we have to wait three more months, dude? Like, this is just going to be the worst three months ever. Like, I just want to see this team play today. It’d be so fun. Not to not to like drift into like the negative dreamland, but I’m going to do it really quick and then I promise I’ll bring us right back. Yeah. If it doesn’t get done, like if if this team, this iteration just like never gets it done in these in these four years. You mean in these four years? Yeah. Yeah. It’s never happening. Like it just won’t happen in our lifetime. Like that’s kind of how it feels. Like it legitimately feels like yo, it’s now or never. I don’t know about that, but it has to happen in my lifetime, bro. It has to. Please, please think about the history of of the franchise. Yep. This team is better poised, I think, than any team we’ve ever had to win a championship given the circumstances in the the the status of the league, specifically the Eastern Conference. I mean, that part I think is fair because if you think about the ‘9s with Shaq and Penny, you know, they if if they were able to stay together, they would have had to deal with the Bulls. And so, I think that’s fair. But outside of that, yeah, I mean, I think it’s very possible. And of course, this is the thing. All of this can change in a matter of months, right? I mean, we’re still not done with the offseason. That’s the other thing. Like, trades can still happen. Moves can still be made. Teams in the East can bolster their starting lineup and acquire Allstars and whatever else. So, who knows? Which also is why I want the season to start now because I don’t want I don’t want those things to happen. But, um, but yeah, I mean, as of right now, it definitely feels possible. And um again, it’s hard for my brain to to really comprehend what could what this season and the next four seasons could be like. Um but I’m also kind of just eager to sit back and just experience it and let it happen and try not to daydream too much and just see where the journey takes us. Well, for younger Magic fans maybe that didn’t live through Dwight. So Dwight signed his last contract with the Magic in 2007. It was a I think it was like a fiveyear 87 million deal like something like that. So we’re looking at 18 years since then to now Paulo you know signing this deal and like what you’re experiencing now if if you weren’t you know alive or conscious in in 2007 if you can’t remember back that far like drafting a player like this or even two of them in Palo and Fron right and getting to this point where you’re a like you signed both of them to their second deals they’re both max deals and them being as good as they are. Like you’re not going to have this happen many times in your life. Like you’re you’re just not. So be sure to cherish this and appreciate this. And some people are going to accuse us of like being overly positive and you know they still have to play the games as we’ve been told and all that kind of stuff, but like you you don’t have many times in your life where you can be this optimistic about a team and damn it, I’m going to enjoy it. Yeah. If it goes bad, you can come back and say, “Oh, haha, I told you so.” That is totally fine with me. I would much rather be happy and excited during this time than like worried and paranoid and like not enjoying it as much as I could and then looking back and being like, even if this team doesn’t get it done, like going back to like 2009 or or like going to the 2010 season, like, oh, like, yeah, this team just made the finals, blah, blah, blah, but like, oh, like, can they do it again? Imagine not enjoying those runs as much as you possibly could. I just could never do it right. So on the other end of this, there might be utter heartbreak and desperation and all those kinds of things. I am completely fine with risking that right now to be excited and enjoy this for what it is. And here’s the thing. If you want us to be more negative, um just, you know, stay tuned to the show and wait until about October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May, June when this team’s going to lose. There’s never been an 82 and0 season, right? So, this team’s going to lose maybe if maybe just a handful of games this year. No, I’m just kidding. And when this team loses or they go on a losing streak, you’re going to hear us get negative. It’s just the way it goes. It’s called being a sports fan. Um, I did want to say, this is not really related to the Magic, but kind of related. I’m a little bit upset with Shams Trani because as we were talking he had this tweet that went out with big all capital breaking and then it says Devin Booker has agreed to a 2-year $145 million max contracts extension which is like duh of course he did so much money he was offered $72 million a year of everyone knew he was going to accept the extension but anyway I say that to say five years from now that that’s going to be well I guess four if we talk about the the player option four years from Now, that’s the kind of tweet that Shams or whoever the next version of Shams is going to be is it’s it’s has the potential to be a Paulo Banker extension for 80 million was like underelling it. Like it might be like 90 $100 million a year in a few years. Yep. Yep. And and you know what’s crazy? I hadn’t thought about this. Okay, I’d have to look this up. Does that that means I didn’t even think about this till right now. That means that the same summer is going to be the end of Fron’s contract and the player option for Paulo’s contract. Jaylen, Fran could all be free agents in one summer. Right. Yeah, that’s that’s good. And could be good, could be bad, could be a mix. Yeah, that’s very interesting. I just honestly till right this second hadn’t lined those years. It’s like it’s like you legitimately have like a 4-year window where like this iteration of the team has to find a way to get it done and then if not we’re going to be in position to, you know, shake things up a bit, right? Yeah. Which is interesting cuz isn’t now going even further. We have Desmond Bane locked up for four years too, right? Well, it’s in this it’s including this year. Including this year, right? Their extension. So, he’ll be a free agent first of that uh of that group. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I’m looking at it now. So, it’s the summer of 30. Yeah. Bronze and Jaylen’s extensions kick in this year, right? Plays in the last year of his rookie scale contract this year and then starting 26 27 he’ll be making of course on just crazy amounts of money. I just hadn’t lined up those things in my head until right now. And I’m I’m Yeah, I’m putting the pieces together and it’s interesting. Could be good, could be bad. We’ll see. But regardless, at some point you’re going to see that the worst summer of our lives. Nah, it won’t. Again, we just talked about it. Paulo is not leaving 80 to $100 million a year on the table. That’s not going to happen. So, anyway, um but yeah, that’s very very interesting and very exciting and terrifying and yeah, I just I just need October so bad. But in the meantime, just be sure you’re still listening and watching the show because we’ll Well, do you remember last off season where we had talked about like, hey, like as fun as this last season was, you know, the 35th anniversary season, winning 47 games, taking the Cavs to seven games, hey, as fun as this season was, I hope you enjoyed that because now there’s expectations and think of how miserable it was last year when things weren’t going well because of the level of expectations we had around this team. It’s brutal. Multiply that by five cuz we were like, “Hey, we need to win a a first round playoff series this year and now it’s like we need to make the Eastern Conference Finals and it, you know, at worst lose than six or seven games.” Like, maybe you get swept in the Eastern Conference Finals. That’s not good. No. To me, I want to just get out of the first round. That’s my goal. That’s your goal for this season? Yes. No. No. Absolutely. Get some You need to get some more goals. That’s not lofty enough. Nope. That’s my goal for this season. That is not lofty enough, my friend. These guys haven’t done it. They’ve never done it. They never win championships. I am also here to win a championship, but I am also trying to be realistic because these guys have never done it. Not even close. So, that’s my goal. You know who hasn’t done it? The Knicks haven’t done it. Yep. The Hawks haven’t done it. No, I’m not saying done it all. I’m saying the Knicks got to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Knicks have won playoff series. The Hawks have won some of the Hawks have won playoff series before. This team hasn’t done it. Desmond B and Fron get any iota of help in either of these playoff series the last couple of years. We win two playoff series. I don’t disagree, but I’m just telling you you in the second round you’re going to play New York or Cleveland potentially, right? That’s who you’re going to play. Two teams that well do what? Cake. Cake. Yeah. Uhhuh. If it’s New York. Well, again, obviously we have to see how all these teams look in the regular season. But if you’re asking me right now, I just want to get out of the first round. Let’s start there. If this team looks better than that in April and it’s a 55 plus win team and they’re the best team in the East, I’ll revisit it. But as I sit right now, I just want to get out of the first round. I haven’t done that in 15 years. Can we just do that first? Uh, well, I do want to do that, but on the way to to winning a title. Uhhuh. Really quick, shameless plug. Tried something new this week. Uh, put out like a short form video, 8 minutes, almost 9 minutes long, just talking about the Magic’s perfect off season. So, go check that out on our YouTube if you haven’t done so already. But the reason that I brought that up is because as I was like writing all of that and I got to the point talking about like Paulo’s contract and like thinking about like if if this goes the way that we wanted to, Paulo could end up being the guy that people think of when they think about the Magic. Fron could be right there in that conversation as well if he spends his whole career here. But we’re talking about Paulo and him him signing his extension. But to think about him playing 16 years here, retiring here, living here once it’s over, still being around games all the time. His his kids are at games with him. Number five, hanging in the rafters. He’s driving, you know, up to Kia Center. Looks over while he’s driving past Church Street. you know, cute little glimpse at his bronze statue standing outside of Kia, you know, standing on the scores table holding up the Lario O’Brien trophy, whatever it is. Like, how fired up does that get you just like thinking about all of the things that could be possible with this dude moving forward? I’m a little disappointed you didn’t have us close our eyes like this would been the third straight episode of us closing our eyes. Some of you can’t again unless you’re driving, but No, I’m I’m kidding. Uh yeah, I mean that’s that’s the dream, right? That’s the dream every sports fan has of every team and every player. And again, it’s it’s lofty, but it feels attainable. Um, but not we deserve to have that, you know. Of course we Oh, so many teams have that. We don’t have it. We absolutely deserve it. Of course we deserve it. Maybe as much as anyone, you know, as far as teams that have only been around for, you know, less than 40 years. I think we deserve it. Um, but yeah, it’s attainable, but it’s also it’s lofty, right? And that’s that’s why that’s why guys get bronze statues because if they lead their team to do something that lofty that that crazy, they deserve a bronze freaking statue if you ask me. And so um yeah, I don’t know, man. It’s it’s it’s really exciting to think about. Um but that’s also a long long time from now. Like let’s say they win one in the next four years. Let’s say Powell plays another what 10 could be as much as 15 years. Then he retires and you got to wait a few years. And so it could be like 15 to 20 years before that statue goes up. Unless unless we just put a statue up while he’s playing. You know, if you win a championship, you get a statue just boom. I don’t know. That could be possible. But yeah, I mean, that’s what you dream of. That’s what you dream of as a sports fan. And maybe someday, Jonathan. Maybe someday. I hope I’m not uh offending anybody when I say this, but like renaming like Division A or South A to like Bancero Boulevard or, you know, Vagner Avenue, something like that. Very offensive to Mr. Division. I’m just kidding. Well, I know, you know, obviously there’s like Huey A as well. I figured that was named after somebody, but like South and Division I’m pretty sure aren’t named after anybody, but you know, renaming those to Banker Boulevard and you know, Fron Vagner Way or something like that. I don’t know. Vagnerve. Yeah, exactly. Oh, there we go. Now we’re Vagner V, baby. I like that. Yep. Banker Boulevard and Vagnerve. Sign me up. Yeah, dude, man. You can bury me at the the corner of that intersection. Bury me at the corner of Banker Boulevard and Vagner. Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious. Yeah, that’d be cool. You know what? What needs to happen? Hang my remains outside of Oh my gosh. Okay. Yeah. You know what needs to happen? You’re talking You’re talking about winning championships and stuff. The Magic could win a title in 2025. Jonathan, they could win the NBA. That’s the worst segue of all time. Is it the worst or is it the best? I think it’s the best. Yeah, NBA Cup groups announced on Wednesday. The Magic are in group B, as in Berrow, uh, in the East and are joined by the Boston Celtics. The, uh, I’m doing this from the top of my head, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, and the Detroit Pistons. Um, very interesting East lineup across the board, like all three groups. Um, East group C with like Miami and Milwaukee and I don’t know that feels like the easiest potentially easiest group. Uh, group B, this is interesting. When this came out, you were very confident in the Magic moving on either as the group winner or potentially as the runner up. Remember, just to refresh everybody’s memory about the NBA Cup, the winners of each group move on and then the best second place team from all the groups in the East moves on as the wild card, which if you recall, that was the Magic last season. The wild card ended up going to Milwaukee uh and losing up there because we had nobody available pretty much. Um but yeah, you you are very confident in this Magic team in this group, right? I think fully healthy, we’re the best team in the in the group. Like you can even if Philadelphia is fully healthy, I don’t care. I think we’re better. Yeah, I I feel good. I do not feel as confident. And the reason why it’s just it’s summer, dude. I have to be that way. I understand that. And it’s it’s the summer, so I have to be this way. It’s basically a single elimination tournament from day one almost, right? like you can’t really afford you definitely can’t afford to lose two games in the groups, right? If you lose one game, you’re probably going to be a wild card or in a tiebreak scenario to win the group and then obviously after that it really is single elimination. And so all it takes is one, you know, one bad night, one night where one guy is not available or whatever. And again, obviously fully healthy maybe, but I just I don’t know that I’ll ever be confident in the NBA Cup because yeah, it’s just a bunch of one-offs. I mean, think about last year. Like, what was it? Milwaukee beat I don’t remember who they beat. Was it OKC in the final? They beat somebody in the final. I don’t even remember. But it’s like Milwaukee wasn’t the best team in the league last year. It’s just they had the right matchups. I mean, case in point, against us without Paulo or Fron in the wildard round and things just lined up for them and that’s the way it went. But I think all in all, I feel good about the Magic in this group. Not great. I think Detroit’s going to be good. I think Philadelphia has the potential to be good. I think Boston is still Boston. But the good news is not still Boston. They don’t have Jason Tatum. They’re not still Boston. But that but they are they don’t have Chriszing. They don’t have Drew Holiday. Like still scares me. That name, that logo, those colors scare me. Listen, here’s what I was going to say though. We have Boston at home and we have Brooklyn at home. We go to Philly. We go to Detroit. All right, let me hear it. Go ahead. Berate me about I’m notating you. I’m not braing you. This is nothing. Maybe a little bit you. Uhhuh. There was some some chatter in our group chat this morning about like, oh, like, you know, group cup, you know, the cup groups are coming out today. Oh, I hope we get this team. I hope we stay away from this team. Like, and I’m like, I don’t care who we’re playing. We’re done dodging people, hoping we avoid these teams. We are the ones who knock. Okay. M last year you and I talked multiple times throughout the season about how it just feels different from years before because it feels like the Magic can beat any team on any given night. The Magic should beat 75 to 80% of the league on any on every single night. And and yeah, they they can beat any team any night. The Magic should be they won’t be because it’s just not how basketball works. The Magic should be competitive every single game. Like the Magic five minutes ago should have a chance to win every single game next year. That’s not how it’s going to go, but whatever. Like, we need to be we need to have the attitude going in that like, no, Boston needs to fear us. Cleveland needs to fear us. Atlanta needs to fear us. I’m not afraid of any of these teams. I’m not afraid of the Thunder. I’m not afraid of the Nuggets. Like, those are good teams. Respect them all you want, whatever. Like going into those games, I’m going to believe like we are going to win this game. This team is that talented now. Yeah, we have not seen it yet. I will give you that. But we freaking deserve for this to go well, man. Okay, just cuz we deserve it doesn’t mean we get here. Here’s what I’ll say. We deserve this. Here’s what I’ll say. It’s less about me being scared of those teams. It is more about me being scared of this team cuz I haven’t seen it yet with my own eyes. I need to see. telling you it is going to happen. Okay, I feel that too, but my brain can’t accept it until my eyes see it. That’s just how my human body works. I have to see it. And look, obviously the NBA cup is very early in the season. It starts in November. It championships like the second week of December. So, we’re going to know, you know, obviously last week of October when the season starts, first week of November, what this team is made of. And then, you know, we’ll see. We’ll see what the NBA Cup looks like. But for now, I’m not scared of the other teams. I’m scared of this team on both sides. I’m scared of disappointment, but I’m also scared of how good this team could be because I still don’t know that I’m ready for that. That’s the other part of this. When you start blowing teams out by like 40, 50 points in in November, I’m not going to know what to do with myself. Jonathan, I I just need this team to score 100 points more often than they don’t. Can we start with that and then we’ll figure out beating teams by 40? Like I want to make like I don’t know 10 threes at least every game next season. Like none of this four threes stuff per game. None of this 85 points in a game. Like I just I again my baseline right now is I think a little bit lower than yours just because we’ve had a miserable offensive. Uh you want to know why it is? I cannot believe that it could be as bad as it was last year. I don’t believe that it’s it’s possible for it to be as bad as it was mathematically, scientifically, I don’t think so. Right. And what was the record? Had the magic shot, you know, 35%, you know, or more, you know, from behind the like it was like 22 and 8 or 25 and 8 or something like that when they did that. 20 and 8, something like that. It’s crazy. Like we we should be doing that on a regular basis. Like that like a bad shooting night should be, you know, 32 33% not 17 like it was some nights last year. Speaking of which, we didn’t even mention this earlier. The odds, some more odds came out for preseason. obviously very very very preseason um odds for uh the 2526 NBA season. You mentioned wins and stuff. The Magic the last I’ve seen it on different places different ways. Of course, right now I’ve seen 51 a 12 and 52 1/2 over under for wins this year, which by the way that’s very interesting. And then there’s the MVP stuff. Again, depending on where you look, Paulo is anywhere from plus 5,500 to uh what is what is Hard Rock has? Plus 4,000. So, he’s in the top 10 on both sides for MVP odds. So, the eyes of the league are definitely on the Magic. Vegas likes the Magic. Vegas likes Powell. I mean, obviously not as much as like a Jokic or whomever, but to be top 10 in MVP um odds at this point of the the offseason is pretty good. So, do you want to give a early like over under that 51 and a half or 52 and a half? Mine would be 54. So, I’m going over 47 wins a couple years ago like and and again like there were stretches of that year where the Magic weren’t playing their best basketball and still weren’t shooting the ball all that well. Yeah. This this team just is so much better than that team was two years ago. I I can’t imagine only winning four more games. And I think to me that’s a reflection of them saying we won 41 games last year and like oh that team added Desmond Bane. So they’re saying Desmond Bane adds 10 wins. That’s not going oh they were 41 and 41 but they won 47 the year before and they were just riddled with injuries all last season and were a historically bad three-point shooting team. Well below career averages across the board. Once you factor that in, to me it gets really easy to get to 54 55 wins. Well, I think the other part of it is, and this may be less about Vegas and more about the court of public opinion, but I think a lot of people around the league aren’t even taking into account the natural development that comes with a core that is 22, 23, 24 years old, right? Like Paulo, as good as he was last year, should be better this year. Fron, as good as he was last year, should be better this year. Jaylen, as good as he was when he was healthy last year and especially the year before, should be better this year. That’s the way it goes. Even Desmond Bane, right? Like he’s not old yet. There’s a chance Desmond Bane is a better player this year regardless of the scenario, the situation, than he was last year. Who knows? So, I think that can all factor into it. Uh I pro I think Vegas is like really close, at least right now. So like I like my number is like 52 or 53. So I’ll just go over for now. I I’ll say 53 just to just to be that way. But yeah, I think it’s very interesting. The Powell stuff plus 5500. Are you doing anything with that or are you going to let it be? Um I’m going to bet I already bet for the Magic to win the East next year just because I just I just have to. I’m definitely going to bet the over. Am I as convinced that, you know, they’re they’re going to do that? I think a couple years ago when their over was like 42 wins and they ended up hitting 47, I I think I bet like a hundred bucks on that. That was pretty nice. That got me a couple of golf clubs. Am I as confident on on some of these other things? No. But it’s more, you know, you’re you’re betting on the value of that, you know, like do I think Paulo has a chance to finish like top five in MVP voting? I I do like I I think Paulo is gonna I don’t want to say at worst like I I think it’s he’s healthy. He’s a lock to make an AllNBA team and I think there’s a chance that Fron and Paulo could both make AllNBA teams with Jaylen making an alldefensive team with Jaylen and potentially Jonathan Isaac making an alldefensive team. Oh my gosh. All right. Ji Ji plays 65 games and plays 20 minutes a game. He makes an alldefensive team. I’m throwing it out there. Okay. Now, look, those are big ifs. Don’t Yeah. Gigantic. Gigantic. Relax. What was it last year? 70 games last year. Yeah. And how many minutes per game? No, I’m Look, I don’t know if you saw my boy Slim Ji. He’s the fact that we’re not not even 2 months into our off season yet and he looks like he’s dropped 15 lbs maybe. Mhm. Is wild. It’s crazy how much thinner he already looks. Yeah. Which again all for it. We’ve talked about a lot on this show. But yeah, we’ll see how that goes. But I look I can see you throwing throw 10 bucks if if Pal’s plus 5500. I was thinking 20. Okay. Look at you. High rolling. 20 bucks to get, you know, 1100 bucks. Yeah, I mean, why not? It’s It’s possible. Uh, but yeah, I thought those were interesting. Um, obviously the Magic’s still very high up in the Eastern Conference. Hard Rock up while we’re here. Yeah, I think Hard Rock I think Luke said he’s plus 4,000 on Hard Rock, so not quite as good. Look, as a evidence in my recent video, math not my thing. So, I’m not going to try to do the math on what that is. you know, 20 bucks on plus 4,000. Is that 800 bucks? Yeah. Yeah. If that what it would be. Yeah. It’s, you know, the the number whatever the plus number is, if you put a hundred on it, that’s what you win. You would win 4,000. If you put a 100. So, you know, 10% of that, you know, let’s say you put 10 on it, that’s to win 400. Double already. You lost. I’m sorry. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I thought that was cool. Um, do we want to talk a little summer league? And by little, I mean very, very quick, you know, reminder about summer league. So, reminding everybody, Summer League tips off tonight as you’re listening to this. Thursday night, July 10th, your Orlando Magic in Vegas taking on the Sacramento Kings at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. Uh, several options to watch that one. Uh, first, you can watch it on NBA TV. Second, I believe it’s on ESPN Plus. I think you said, Jonathan, it’s available on ESPN Plus. Also, if you’re in Central Florida and you are subscribed to FanDuel Sports Network, you can watch it on the FanD FanDuel Sports Network app. Uh we saw that news a little bit earlier today. And the other thing, if you are a patron of ours, you are at the Hall of Fame or elite tier level, uh we are having a special virtual event tonight. Um so obviously check our Patreon, check the discord for the information on that. Another different way you can consume that game. Another fun option there. But yeah, Magic tip it off tonight. They play tonight. They play Sunday night as well. Very interesting to see Jace Richardson. He uh seems to be good to go. Earlier this week, there was talks about him having a sore ankle. Looks like he’s good to go. Was a full participant in practice today in Vegas or Wednesday in Vegas. He’s going to be good to go Thursday. Tristan looks great. Noah Penda is going to play. We should get to see all three of those guys with significant minutes on Thursday against Sacramento. And hey, Orlando Magic is Orlando Magic basketball is sort of back. And so I’m kind of excited about that. I am super fired up for that. I’m going through the I knew it. Hard Rock still has the old Magic logo. So they got to get that fixed. The fact that you can bet on summer league games. Y’all need to call the hotline if you’re betting on summer league games. Yeah. Just God bless. So Paulo, you’re you’re correct. Plus 4,000. The Magic to win the title or plus 2,000. the fact that the Magic have a better chance to win the title than Paulo does to win MVP. And I don’t think it’s like this crazy thing like maybe not next year, but like soon. I I mean maybe as early as this year. I don’t know if Paulo is the Paulo that we saw from the first eight games and then like the last 15 games of the season for a whole year and the Magic win 56 57 games, he’s going to be in the conversation. So, man, that is just it it’s crazy to think about. It is crazy. I’ll just add this is the most gambling talk we’ve ever had on this show. So, this is a reminder to gamble responsibly. What I used to talk like college football and all that stuff every week. When we did shoot the shot, we would had a whole se. Nobody listened to that though. So, I’m just saying gamble responsibly. You didn’t have to say it. You’re not wrong, but you didn’t have to say that. This is important. Gamble responsibly. Okay. Do that. And also, we’re not affiliated with Hard Rock. So, you know, that’s just the the app that John chose, but drop off a bag. I don’t know about that. But anyway, that’s all. It’s exciting. Don’t bet on summer league. That’s all I got. Yeah, don’t do that. Yeah. No, I’m looking forward to summer league. Um, one of these years we really do have to make it out there because it just sounds like the coolest thing. But hey, maybe if they make the NBA Cup, you know, final. Maybe, maybe, probably not. we uh hopefully have some Eastern Conference finals and finals, you know, games to attend and pay for. So, yeah, man. I am just over the moon about all this. The off seasonason’s been incredible. Yep. I just want them to play games now. Yeah. Well, some of them are going to play games today. Be fun. I’m looking forward to seeing Jason and Noah. I’m As excited I am to see those guys, I think I’m more excited to see Tristan. Yeah. Yeah. Me, too. Tristan as a focal point. Sign me up. That’s going to be pretty exciting. If he drops like 30, I’ll I’m just going to automatically be convinced that he’s going to be ready for a real rotation spot. Yeah. Yeah. If if he’s dropping 30 Yeah. The next episode of this show is going to be unhinged cuz Yeah. Anyway, we’ll see. It’ll be fun. All right. Thank you all for listening to this one for Kevin Tucker. This has been Jonathan Osborne. You all have been listening to the Sixman Show and we will catch you guys next time. See you. Thanks for listening to The Sixth Man Show. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and Spotify to get new episodes downloaded directly to your phone. If you enjoy the show, please take a minute to give us a fivestar rating and a review. It helps out the show a lot. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebookman Show. We’ll catch you guys next time. Go Magic. Let’s go Magic. Let’s go back. Let’s go back.

Paolo Banchero signs his much-anticipated designated rookie max extension worth up to as much as $287 million. Kevin & Jonathan break down the deal and what it means for the franchise and Magic fans everywhere.

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