Orlando is not expected to extend Anthony Black before the Oct. 19 rookie-scale deadline. Marc Stein reported it late Sunday, and the wording was not hopeful.
Stein wrote that he would “classify an extension for Magic swingman Anthony Black as unlikely at this current juncture,” adding: “Sources say that the sides have not engaged in any meaningful extension dialogue to date.”
Not slow talks. No talks.
Black Just Had His Best Season
The 22-year-old, taken sixth overall in 2023, averaged 15.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 29.8 minutes across 64 games with 40 starts last season. That is a career year and a legitimate starting guard.
A player coming off those numbers at that age normally gets a conversation. Black is heading toward restricted free agency in the summer of 2027 instead.
The Cap Sheet Explains It
This is not a referendum on Black. It is arithmetic.
Per ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, Desmond Bane and Jalen Suggs already account for roughly $161 million of Orlando’s 2027-28 payroll. Add Wendell Carter Jr.’s $19.5 million and the starting five alone clears $180 million.
Banchero’s extension is worth five years and $239 million, with escalators that can push it toward $287 million. Wagner’s can reach $224 million. Those two contracts are the franchise, and they do not leave much room to pay a fifth starter market value.
Restricted Free Agency Is Not Automatically Bad for Orlando
There is a version of this that works out for Jeff Weltman’s front office. Restricted free agency gives Orlando the right of first refusal, which means it gets to see what the market actually offers Black before committing a dollar.
The risk is the other version, where Black takes a leap this season under new head coach Sean Sweeney and a rival team hands him a sheet Orlando cannot match without going deep into the tax.
That is the gamble every team in a cap crunch makes with its fourth-best young player. Sometimes you save $40 million. Sometimes you lose the player.
The Window Is Already Open
Orlando lost a seven-game playoff series to Detroit last season, which is a team that has arrived rather than a team still waiting. Banchero and Wagner are paid like cornerstones. Bane and Suggs are locked in.
Letting the Black situation run to 2027 is defensible. It also means the Magic spend this season watching a 22-year-old starter play for his next contract somewhere, and not necessarily in Orlando.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.