NBA Free Agency: Magic Eyeing Thunder Prospects?

The Orlando Magic could become buyers before too long, as its young core is strong enough that bringing vets in makes sense.

The Orlando Magic has turned a corner in its rebuild. 

The team improved this past season, showing plenty of promise and potential with a young squad. This led to the squad adding more young talent through the NBA Draft and bringing in veteran Joe Ingles. 

Now, the Magic will be able to continue building a strong, more experienced squad on top of their core to help make a playoff push. 

In their rebuild, the Magic has officially hit the stage that they have to focus on what other teams are doing on a deeper level, whereas before not much mattered except in-house development. One team that could be of benefit for the Magic to watch is the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"Some good players are going to get cut from OKC and we all need to be ready to jump when that happens," an NBA executive told Sportrac's Keith Smith.

On Wednesday, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported that the Thunder released Rudy Gay in an attempt to cut the number of players on their roster, where they had 21 standard rosters on contract beforehand. 

For the Thunder, they've got to cut an additional five standard contract players ahead of the regular season, adding more potential targets to the Magic's board.

Gay would provide more of a veteran presence on top of Ingles' addition in that aspect. The two would be able to stabilize the locker room and present an opportunity for the team to embrace more challenges at an earlier stage of the young cores' development. 

The Magic has 15 standard contracts on its roster, the most the NBA allows a team to hold in the regular season. To bring in more vets, the team would have to move on from some players on roster. For a guy like Gay, the Magic would likely move on from a player like Goga Bitazde, who is paid a cheaper salary and isn't expected to make an impact on a deep level.

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You can follow Kade Kimble on Twitter @KadeKimble.

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