Orlando Magic to sign Luke Ridnour
The Orlando Magic have had a very busy offseason.
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They waived point guard Jameer Nelson, who has spent all 10 of his NBA seasons with the Magic, traded their best player, guard Arron Afflalo, to the Denver Nuggets and also parted ways with point guard Ronnie Price, big man Jason Maxiell and guard E’Twaun Moore. They acquired swingman Evan Fournier and the rights to the 56th-overall pick, former Iowa Hawkeyes’ guard Devyn Marble, in the Afflalo deal. They landed former Arizona Wildcats’ forward Aaron Gordon and former Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns’ point guard Elfrid Payton in the draft, signed veterans Channing Frye and Ben Gordon and claimed guard Willie Green off of waivers from the Los Angeles Clippers.
During the Orlando Pro Summer League last week, Magic general manager Rob Hennigan stressed the need to add another point guard. Now, it looks like the Magic are close to filling that final hole.
According to Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel, the Magic are finalizing a deal with Charlotte Bobcats’ free agent point guard Luke Ridnour.
The Orlando Magic indeed are finalizing a deal with PG Luke Ridnour.
— Josh Robbins (@JoshuaBRobbins) July 16, 2014
Ridnour, along with guard Gary Neal, was dealt from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for guard Ramon Sessions and forward Jeff Adrien just before the 2014 trade deadline.
Ridnour averaged 5.0 points, 2.9 assists and 1.6 rebounds per game while shooting 38.5% from the field, 34.3% from beyond the arc and 65.4% from the free throw line in 61 regular season games last season. He put up 2.5 points, 3.0 assists and 1.0 rebounds per game while shooting 30.8% from the field and 33.3% from three in four postseason games.
Ridnour was originally drafted by the Seattle Supersonics with the 14th-overall pick in the first round of the 2003 NBA Draft. The former Oregon Ducks’ standout has played for the Sonics and Timberwolves in addition to the Bucks and Bobcats. He’s averaged 9.6 points, 4.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 43.1% from the field, 35.0% from beyond the arc and 86.2% from the foul line in his 11-year career.