The Orlando Magic are clearing up a bit of cap space, as they have waived Ben Gordon and his non-guaranteed $4.5-million salary for 2015-16, the team announced Monday.
Gordon's 2015-16 contract operated more or less like a team option - it was guaranteed if he remained on the roster, but cost the Magic nothing to waive ahead of July 1. For procedure, the Magic had to waive Gordon to clear his salary from the books, something that was largely expected to happen as far back as the contract's initial signing.
The non-guaranteed extra year existed as a potentially useful trade chip for salary matching, but it's not a salary the Magic want to carry once guaranteed. They stand to have appreciable cap space this summer, and while Gordon has utility, at this juncture, he's not worth sacrificing the cap space and flexibility.
The 32-year-old journeyman shooting guard will subsequently become an unrestricted free agent, but will likely find the market for his services fairly cool. The two-year, $9-million deal he got from Orlando last summer was an overpay, and a season in which he averaged 6.2 points in 14.1 minutes per game for a 25-win team presumably didn't do much for his stock.
Gordon can still shoot - he connected on 36.1 percent of his 3-point attempts last year - and for that reason there's probably still a place for him in the NBA, albeit on something closer to a minimum contract.
The Magic, meanwhile, can now maneuver into roughly $20 million in cap space to work with this offseason.They may end up using most of it on restricted free agent Tobias Harris, but this affords them some additional roster-building flexibility.
