The Orlando Magic were able to secure the future of Wendell Carter Jr. As reported by Shams Charania, the Magic agreed to a three-year, $59 million contract extension with Carter Jr., which extends his deal till the 2028-29 season and earns him a total of $82 million in the next five years.
This deal will almost double his current salary of about $11 million when it kicks in ahead of the 2026-27 NBA season. This is a big show of faith and confidence from the Magic toward Carter Jr. The franchise has been rebuilding for the last few years and has now become a team that is just a few moves away from contending.
And the fact that they chose to offer Carter Jr. a lucrative contract extension rather than use him as some sort of trade asset to better the squad shows that head coach Jamahl Mosley and the rest of the franchise believe in Carter right now, and think that he can get better.
Carter Jr. is coming off a slightly down year compared to his 2022-23 NBA season, as he averaged 11.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists with the Magic. Compared to the 2022-23 season, where he averaged 15.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists, it was a drop-off, but mostly due to some minor injury concerns during the year.
Despite being a 6’10 center, Carter Jr. has proven to be one of the most effective bigs in the NBA over the last few years. He has shown steady improvement over the last few years, and despite initial concerns, has shown that he can play well alongside Magic cornerstone Paolo Banchero.
Carter Jr. And Magic Primed For Big Season
After a shaky and difficult start in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls, Carter Jr. has been able to thrive with the Magic. The Bulls were just not the right place for him to develop, and his getting traded as part of the Nikola Vucevic trade in 2021 was a career-saving move, as it allowed him to thrive in a no-pressure environment.
Now, Carter Jr. is a core piece of this Orlando Magic rebuild program that is entering its final stages. With players Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Carter Jr. developing quite well, the Magic could be ready to contend in a few years, although they still need to make a few moves to get there, and they showed that they can make said moves this offseason.
There is a great deal of excitement around the Orlando Magic’s season. The franchise made big moves in free agency, poaching Kentavious Caldwell-Pope away from the Nuggets, along with extending Franz Wagner, Gary Harris, and Jonathan Isaac.
The additional extension of Carter Jr. shows that the franchise believes in the group of guys they have for the foreseeable future. But Carter Jr. needs to reward that faith by trying to play more games next season. In the last three seasons, Carter Jr. has missed 72 out of 248 games, meaning he misses about 24 games per season.
The Orlando Magic are one of the dark horse teams in the Eastern Conference and could surprise many teams on their day when it comes time for the NBA playoffs.
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