Magic guard Anthony Black is considered day-to-day because of a minor ankle sprain he suffered during the team’s voluntary workouts in the lead up to training camp, new Orlando coach Sean Sweeney said Wednesday.
Sweeney didn’t clarify which ankle Black sprained when asked, but the Magic coach also didn’t sound too concerned about the injury either.
“(We’re) just being smart about it, especially with two practices in a day,” Sweeney said inside the AdventHealth Training Center following the morning session of the second day of training camp.
The same goes for second-year forward Noah Penda, who tweaked his hamstring. Both Penda and Black were present during the media-viewing session of practice but were only rebounding and passing the ball to teammates going through shooting drills.
“With two practices, we don’t want them doing too much twice a day,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney said holding two practices a day — one that includes contact work and one that doesn’t — helps the new coaching staff implement what they’re trying to teach the players and allows them to break it up into two different segments.
It also helps from a communication standpoint that a majority of the roster is the same from a season ago.
“Familiarity always helps with some understanding,” Sweeney said. “In general, I like the way the guys work together and how they’ve approached everything. Going into July, August, September now (and) as we move into October, this group’s done a great job of working together.
“I love the communication that we have, just in general,” he added. “They do a good job of respectfully discussing — like, say if a guy needs feedback on something or if he needs acknowledgement — they do a great job of it.”
Still, the minor ankle sprain comes at an intriguing time for Black.
Entering his fourth year with the franchise and the final season of his rookie contract, Black is eligible to sign a rookie-scale contract extension. Figuring out the terms and value of the extension, however, is the complicated part for a Magic team that’s already signed Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs to their extensions and last summer traded for already-extended Desmond Bane.
Orlando already has a combined $161.2 million in salary allocated to Banchero, Wagner, Suggs and Bane for the 2027-28 season. Tack on the $19.5 million owed to Wendell Carter Jr. and the number reaches north of $180 million committed for just five players.
For context, this year’s salary cap was set at $164.9 million by the NBA with the tax level at $200.4 million. The Magic are set to make a luxury tax payment for the first time in over a decade this season.
“Always hopeful, but I don’t know what that means. We’re in a lot of tighter quarters than we’ve been in years past,” Weltman said Monday at media day while referring to the financial reality facing the franchise. “I know that he’s got great representatives. We believe he’s a bright young player in this league who’s just going to get better and better, and we’ll have continuous conversation with his people up until the deadline. And we’re hopeful that we can arrive at something.
“But if not, we expect Anthony to have a great year,” Weltman added. “(Extensions) don’t always get done right now. Sometimes they get done later, so we’ll see. But I don’t want to kind of make any predictions or anything. I know that you know both sides have the best intentions.”
The deadline to reach an agreement on an extension is 6 p.m. on Oct. 19, the day before the start of the regular season.
If a deal can’t get done, Black would become a restricted free agent next summer.
A restricted free agent can sign an offer sheet with any team, but the player’s original team can retain him by matching the terms of that offer. Black also could become unrestricted if Orlando opts not to qualify him, which would then allow him to sign with any team.
The Dallas native missed time down the stretch last season because of a left lateral abdominal strain, but still averaged career highs of 15 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists during 29.8 minutes per night in 64 regular-season games. He’s appeared in 85.7% (211) of possible regular-season games (246) across the first three years of his time in the league.
Black expressed optimism about the possibility of signing an extension with the Magic, but also acknowledged the financial restraints of the club.
“It would be great to get that done,” Black said on Monday. “The team’s in a weird spot with that, but yeah, I’m trying to stay where my feet are. I’m focused on getting better every day, and helping my team out. And if that happens, that would be great, obviously.
“But it’s a business,” he added. “They’ve got things they’ve got to worry about. I’ve got things I’ve got to worry about. So, if it happens, it happens.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com