NBA Free Agency 2019: 5 potential destinations for D’Angelo Russell

4. Orlando Magic

If the Orlando Magic hope to sign Russell this summer, they’ll have to get creative.

After factoring in the salary-cap hold for their No. 16 overall pick ($3.1 million) and three incomplete roster charges ($897,158 each), they could carve out a maximum of $19.2 million in salary-cap space by renouncing the rights to all of their free agents. That means giving up Bird rights on Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross — meaning they couldn’t exceed the salary cap to re-sign either player — just to have a chance to sign Russell.

Even if the Magic salary-dump D.J. Augustin ($7.25 million) without receiving any salary in return, they still wouldn’t have enough cap room to sign Russell to his $27.25 max starting salary. Waiving and stretching the final $16.7 million of Timofey Mozgov’s contract isn’t enough on its own, either.

If Vucevic expresses interest in re-signing with the Magic, it’ll be nigh impossible for them to carve out enough room to sign Russell, too. Their interest in Russell will likely come down to where Vucevic heads in free agency and the status of 2017 No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz.

The Magic acquired Fultz from the Philadelphia 76ers at the trade deadline, although it’s unclear where he stands in his recovery from thoracic outlet syndrome. If it appears as though his shooting stroke is irreparably broken, they may decide to cut bait on their low-risk, high-upside gamble and prioritize Russell instead.

While the Magic figure to have interest in improving their backcourt, they’d need a series of dominoes to fall for Russell to become a top target.