The confetti had barely been swept off the TD Garden floor Monday night when the start of the 2025 season began quietly.
The offseason typically begins about a week after the Finals conclude with the NBA Draft. Indeed, the first round of the Draft takes place June 26 (one week from Wednesday). Free agency follows quickly on June 30 at 6 p.m. Eastern, beginning the free-for-all.
There is no rest for the weary in the NBA. The offseason begins quickly and the Draft at least opens up the floodgates for trades and the NBA rumor mill to keep spinning.
The new CBA though has brought a new wrinkle to the equation. As revealed throughout the day Monday before Game 5, the new CBA opens the doors for free agency at 12:01 a.m. on the day after the Finals concludes.
Essentially, teams can begin negotiating with their own free agents almost immediately after the season ends.
The offseason is already here.
The #Magic can officially begin negotiating with free-agents-to-be Markelle Fultz, Gary Harris, Goga Bitadze and Chuma Okeke.
Magic hold a team option on Joe Ingles and Moe Wagner that they must exercise by June 29.
Free agency begins June 30 at 6 p.m. ET.
— Orlando Magic Daily (@OMagicDaily) June 18, 2024
There has not been much movement so far (as of writing on June 18 around 6 p.m.). With a little more than a week and no competition, perhaps there is a little less urgency to get deals done as quickly as possible. The league is trying to crack down some on the perception of tampering too—perhaps suggesting deals will not be reported and agreed to right at 6 p.m. on June 30.
But teams around the league can begin getting their work done with their own free agents. They can talk with their own free agents and agree to deals that would not be announced until after the moratorium ends on July 6.
That leaves the Magic able to discuss new deals with Gary Harris, Markelle Fultz, Goga Bitadze and Chuma Okeke.
The Magic are not expected to bring any four of those players back—but anything can happen.
Both Harris and Fultz were solid contributors to the team last year, even if they both had their set backs last year. It is unlikely the Magic would want either back as a starter.
Bitadze could also be back into the fold. But he also might be looking to get a bigger role out in free agency. It is not clear what the Magic want to do.
In any case, the Magic might be looking to get other work done first before returning to Bitadze. They may not want to commit themselves to end-of-the-bench players first.
The Magic are expected to focus on external needs. So for them, free agency will not start until June 30 when they can begin talking with players from other teams.
This is their time to get a jump start on agreeing to new deals and perhaps reducing their cap holds to open up even more cap room.
But it is also a time for others to get a jumpstart too. Players like Paul George or Klay Thompson could agree to contracts to return to their teams, making any free agency pursuit moot. There is a lot in the air still. And everything is very quiet on the rumor mill front for now.
That is not the only thing the Magic can take care of now, as Bobby Marks of ESPN laid out:
The rules of the offseason
Starts on Tuesday June 18 pic.twitter.com/TmSk0LSuvi
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 18, 2024
The Magic have five players who are extension eligible this summer that they could begin negotiating contracts with today now that the season is over.
The two big ones are of course Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs. Both players should get new contracts. It might be smarter for the Magic to wait on agreeing to new deals with them with both players expected to make more than their cap holds in new deals—Keith Smith of Spotrac projects Wagner getting a five-year, $200 million contract and Suggs getting a four-year, $112 million deal.
There are still a lot of moving pieces. It does not seem smart yet to lock anything into place.
Orlando can also begin contract negotiations with Jonathan Isaac, Wendell Carter and Caleb Houstan. It is unlikely the Magic would do an extension though as they might be looking to cut salary—especially Isaac’s salary as he moves to a more permanent bench role. That will be something to review and consider.
The Magic are likely to save extension talks and new contracts for later in the offseason. It is unlikely the Magic are going to jump the gun to retain their own free agents if that is what they want to do.
Right now, they have their eyes on next week’s NBA Draft. And then they have their eyes on their option deadlines on June 30–both Joe Ingles and Mo Wagner seem likely to have their options declined although the Magic are likely to retain Wagner using the room mid-level exception.
Then comes free agent after that on June 30.
The offseason is finally here. And in two weeks—deals can be announced on July 6 after the moratorium ends—the Magic may look very different.
