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Jalen Suggs, Magic get rookie extension done before deadline

Jason Beede, Orlando Sentinel on

Published in Basketball

ORLANDO, Fla. — At Magic media day three weeks ago, Jalen Suggs made his intentions clear regarding his future in Orlando.

“I don’t want to be anywhere else,” the fourth-year pro said at the time.

On Monday, Suggs and the Magic helped him keep track of his goal.

Less than two hours before Monday’s 6 p.m. deadline for 2021 draft picks, Suggs agreed to a five-year, $150.5 million rookie contract extension with the Magic, a league source told the Orlando Sentinel.

The contract extension includes no options and is fully guaranteed, according to the league source.

Magic officials negotiated the new deal with Suggs’ representative, Darren Matsubara of Wasserman, holding a series of meetings in Orlando in the final day to finalize the terms, ESPN reported.

The team later officially announced the extension and Suggs shared a message on social media.

“So many deserve so much praise and thanks for their sacrifices and help to make today my reality,” the Magic guard wrote on X. “This is surreal.

“Orlando, I was never leaving you — you’re my home,” he added. “The people in this city are my family for life. I love you 407!”

Had Suggs not signed a rookie extension with the Magic ahead of Monday’s deadline, he would have 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. Suggs could have also become unrestricted if Orlando opted not to qualify him, which would have allowed him to sign with any team.

But both sides made it clear before training camp they wanted to secure his long-term future with the franchise and ultimately found a way to get a deal done.

“Jalen is a big part of what we’re doing and everybody knows that,” Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said recently. “For the person that he is, for the player that he is, I’m always hopeful that we can get something done. We have great relations with his representatives.

“I know that Jalen wants to be a part of the Magic,” Weltman added. “He’s an integral part of the chemistry and the team on and off the court.”

The Magic signed forward Franz Wagner, who was selected three picks after Suggs in 2021’s first round, to a five-year, $224 million maximum rookie extension over the summer.

Suggs, however, had a bumpier start to his NBA career compared to Wagner, mainly due to injuries.

 

As a rookie, Suggs missed 34 games due to injury, including 20 due to a fractured right thumb and 11 due to a bone bruise in his right ankle. Then his second season, he missed 28 games due to injury, including 19 with right ankle soreness.

His third season in the league, however, was a breakout year for him.

Suggs found consistency while appearing in the most games of his career in a single season (75) last year. Ending last year tied for eighth in the NBA in steals (1.4) and tied for 12th in steals-to-turnover ratio (0.80), he earned a third-place vote for NBA Defensive Player of the Year while being named to the NBA All-Defensive second team.

He also averaged a career-high 12.6 points while shooting a personal-best 39.7% from 3-point range to go with 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 27.0 minutes.

It’s why he and Orlando were hopeful in getting a rookie extension done before the season began.

“This is where I am and I can place my full confidence that God will bring those things to me when I’m ready as He brought last season to me when I was ready — a year of growth, a year of great basketball and of winning here,” Suggs said recently. “That’s what I’m leaning on. I know they’re taking care of business.”

Consider business handled.

Suggs, Orlando’s No. 5 pick three years ago, wasn’t the only member of the 2021 rookie class to get a deal done on the final day of the offseason.

On Monday alone, the Rockets reportedly agreed to a 3-year, $106 million deal with No. 2 pick Jalen Green and a 5-year, $185 million contract extension with No. 16 pick Alperen Sengun, the Wizards reportedly struck a 4-year, $54 million deal with No. 15 pick Corey Kispert, the Pelicans reportedly nailed down a 4-year, $112 million extension with No. 17 pick Trey Murphy and the Hawks agreed to a 5-year, $150 million extension with No. 20 pick Jalen Johnson.

Suggs’ rookie extension also follows a busy summer that saw the Magic re-sign majority of their core pieces from a season ago that guided Orlando back to the playoffs for the first time in four years.

In addition to Franz Wagner’s rookie extension, the Magic re-signed key reserve big man Moe Wagner, guard Gary Harris, center Goga Bitadze and two-way guard Trevelin Queen while renegotiating and extending forward Jonathan Isaac.

This month, Orlando also signed center Wendell Carter Jr. to a three-year, $59 million contract extension while exercising its third-year team options on second-year players Anthony Black and Jett Howard as well as its fourth-year option on Paolo Banchero, whom the franchise drafted No. 1 in 2022.

Banchero is bound to sign a deal similarly sized to Franz Wagner’s next summer when he becomes rookie-extension eligible.

Before then, however, Banchero, Suggs and the Magic are aiming to return to the playoffs for a second straight year.

Their journey begins in Miami when Orlando opens the season on the road Wednesday.


©2024 Orlando Sentinel. Visit orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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