ORLANDO, Fla. — Point guard Tyus Jones and center Moe Wagner put their signatures on contracts for the 2025-26 season, Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman announced, bringing their roster to 14 players.

What You Need To Know

The Magic have officially signed point guard Tyus Jones and center Moe Wagner

President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman said Monday that both players had options., and he is happy they chose to play for Orlando

Jones said he could tell from playing against Orlando that the team has good camaraderie and wants to compete for coach Jamahl Mosley

The signings might complete Orlando’s roster at 14 players because the team has little room under the first apron of the NBA salary cap rules

The Magic do not reveal their players’ contract terms, but multiple media reports said Jones will make $7 million and Wagner will be paid $5 million.

The signings came just hours before the Magic announced they have reached agreement with All-Star power forward Paolo Banchero on a five-year extension to his rookie contract. The extension is worth $239 million and could reach about $287 million should he become eligible for a supermax deal, a person with knowledge of the agreement said. The deal has a player option for the 2030-31 season.

Jones comes to Orlando as a playmaker and 3-point shooter, skills that should help create some room in the team’s offense and give it more players who can handle the basketball. The Magic have run their offense mostly through All-Star power forward Paolo Banchero and forward Franz Wagner and likely still will, but it will free the big men up to play off the ball a little more. Jones also will be able to help create offense for their bench players. Jones, 6 feet and 196 pounds, played in 81 games last season with the Phoenix Suns, averaging 10.2 points, 5.3 assists and 2.4 rebounds in 26.8 minutes per game. He shot 41.4% (166-for-401) from 3-point range and 89.5% (51-for-57) from the free-throw line. He ranked second in the NBA in assists-to-turnover ratio (4.71). Jones will wear No. 2 for Orlando.

“I’m just very happy that Tyus chose us,” Weltman said Monday. “He had a lot of teams chasing him. I think he saw the fit, and I think he understands how he’s going to fit into what we’re building here, not just on the court, but off it as well.”

He said the good decisions that Jones makes will help elevate the team and believes the “selfless quality” of Jones’ game will permeate through the team.

Jones said he could tell from playing against the Magic that they have good camaraderie and could see how coach Jamahl Mosley coaches the team and how the players want to compete for him.

“The talent is through the roof,” Jones said. “This team has everything you need to win a championship. …I’m excited to see it all come together.”

Jones said he isn’t interested in coming in to shake things up. He just wants to help the players and the team continue to get better.

Jones has relationships with two of the Magic’s players. He and guard Desmond Bane, who the Magic recently acquired in a major trade, played together with the Memphis Grizzlies. Jones said they have stayed in touch since he left Memphis and that the chemistry they developed in the past will help as the team moves forward. He said he has known Jalen Suggs since the Magic guard was in the third or fourth grade and he has always cheered him on.

Wagner brings back his scoring and emotional energy to Orlando for a fifth full season. (He played 11 games with the Magic in the 2020-21 season). He was Orlando’s top scorer off the bench last season before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on Dec. 21. Wagner, 6-11 and 250 pounds, averaged 12.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 18.8 minutes per game over 30 games and shot 56.2% (140-for-249) from the floor. He led (or tied) the team in scoring once and in rebounding four times. 

“Moe has a lot of options. He’s an important part of our team, and the fact that he reinvested in us is really gratifying to us,” Weltman said. “We can’t wait to continue Moe’s journey in a Magic uniform, and we’re excited to have him back.”

Wagner was not at the news conference Monday but has said many times in the past how much he loves playing for the Magic. 

It is unclear when Wagner will be able to return to play as he recovers from his ACL injury. 

That leaves Orlando one player short of a full roster. NBA teams only are required to have 14 players on their regular-season rosters, and these two signings likely leave them just short of the restrictive first apron in total NBA contracts. That doesn’t preclude the team from making a trade or, possibly signing one player to a minimum contract, depending upon the value of the contract signed by forward Noah Penda, the 32nd pick in last month’s NBA Draft.

Weltman said he is eager to watch the Magic continue to grow over the next few years. He said management put together a roster and, on paper, it looks good, but the organization must work to get the team as far along as it can, starting now.

“We’re excited about this team,…but what matters is the players are really excited about it,” he said. “There’s a responsibility that comes with that, and we have to live up to that now.

“We in this building have to make it work. So to me, that’s the most important thing.”

The Magic might not be through making changes to their organization, though. Multiple media reports have said coach Jamahl Mosley will add two assistants to his staff, former NBA guard and Dallas Mavericks assistant God Shammgod and longtime NBA assistant Joe Prunty. The Magic have not announced any additions yet.

Shammgod joined the Mavericks staff as a developmental coach in 2019, and Mosley was an assistant coach with Dallas until 2021, when he was hired by Orlando. Prunty has been a coach in the NBA for more than 25 years, including stints with the Portland Trail Blazers, Brooklyn Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks. He and Mosley spent time as assistants together with the Cavs, and Prunty has a reputation as an offense-oriented coach. He has been an interim head coach multiple times.

In the more immediate future, Magic 2025 draft picks Jase Richardson and Penda, second-year player Tristan da Silva and the rest of their Summer League team head to Las Vegas, Nev., where they will begin play on Thursday.