The Orlando Magic and the representatives for center Nik Vucevic are finalizing a contract extension that will add four years to his current deal and will run through the 2018-19 NBA season, industry sources told the Orlando Sentinel.
The deal will pay Vucevic a total of $53 million over four seasons, and the extension will not include an opt-out clause that would enable Vucevic to become a free agent before the summer of 2019.
The extension will have benefits for the Magic and for Vucevic.
By reaching the extension now, the Magic will prevent Vucevic from becoming a restricted free agent in July. Although the Magic would have had the option to match any offer sheet Vucevic received from another team, the Magic might have been forced to pay Vucevic more than the average salary of $13.25 million per season during the four years covered by the extension.
The deal will become more cap friendly to the Magic once the NBA’s new national TV agreement inflates the annual salary cap figure.
Vucevic now has financial security for the rest of his life, even if he gets hurt in the years ahead, and he will remain with a team he has said he loves.
Vucevic, who will turn 24 years old Friday, has made rebounding his calling card. He is one of only five players who have averaged at least 10 rebounds per game in each of the last two NBA seasons. The others are the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kevin Love, the Houston Rockets’ Dwight Howard, the Chicago Bulls’ Joakim Noah and the Memphis Grizzlies’ Zach Randolph.
In Aug. 2012, the Magic acquired Vucevic from the Philadelphia 76ers in the four-team, multi-player trade that sent Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Vucevic averaged 13.6 points and 11.5 rebounds per game during his first two Magic seasons. In the process, he carved out a place as one of the most productive centers in the NBA.
In contract negotiations over the last several weeks, Vucevic no doubt benefitted from the fact that there are few top-flight centers in the NBA these days. If you apply the law of supply-and-demand to players at the center position, it’s a seller’s market.
Under NBA rules for former first-round draft picks entering their fourth seasons, the Magic had until the end of Oct. 31 to reach an extension with Vucevic.
Shortly after the news of Vucevic’s extension broke, two of Vucevic’s Magic teammates congratulated him over Twitter.
Power forward Channing Frye wrote: “Congratulations to this guy! Glad to be apart of the Magic future with this guy!”
Swingman Maurice Harkless tweeted: “Vooooooooooooch!!! Happy for my man! Congrats big fella.”
Vucevic, who hails from Montenegro and will earn $2.75 million this season, possesses many of the attributes shared by European big men. He’s a good mid-range shooter and he’s a capable passer out of the high post.
There are a few weaknesses to Vucevic’s game.
Although he’s 7 feet tall, he doesn’t block many shots and he isn’t an elite athlete who plays above the rim. Also, he needs to improve his repertoire of low-post moves.
That said, he has added strength in recent years, and his added muscle should help him when opponents try to push him off the block. He also runs the court well, which should be an asset to the Magic as they attempt to push the ball upcourt in transition.
League rules would have permitted the Magic to designate Vucevic as their “designated player” and give him an extension that would have added five new years to his contract instead of four new years. But all designated players must receive a maximum-level salary amounting to at least 25 percent of the salary-cap figure in the first year of the deal.
That scenario didn’t make sense for the Magic, who wanted to keep as much payroll flexibility as possible.
The franchise still has until the end of Oct. 31 to reach a contract extension with forward Tobias Harris. But Harris’ situation seems to be more complicated partly because Harris plays a position where there are more quality players than at center.
Harris congratulated Vucevic on Twitter on Tuesday night.
Harris wrote: “Congrats to the bro @NikolaVucevic!!!!!!!!!!!”
Josh Robbins covers the Orlando Magic and the NBA for the Orlando Sentinel. You can reach him via e-mail at jbrobbins@tribune.com and connect with him on Facebook at facebook.com/JoshuaBRobbins. Follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.