Milicic I Ain't Mad At Cha: Magic Look To Clear Cap Space For Darko

BY JOHN DENTON
FLORIDA TODAY

ADVERTISEMENT

WEB EXTRAS Get the latest in John Denton's NBA Dish blog

Related news from the Web Latest headlines by topic: • Sports • Ray Allen • Seattle SuperSonics • NBA Basketball • NBA Players • Orlando Magic • Rashard Lewis Powered by Topix.net

ORLANDO - Hoping to clear enough salary-cap space so they can retain center-power forward Darko Milicic, the Orlando Magic continued sign-and-trade negotiations Friday with the Seattle SuperSonics.

The Magic have already convinced small forward Rashard Lewis, 27, to sign with a five-year, $75 million deal with them on Wednesday. Now, Orlando is looking to maneuver so that it can hang on to the 7-foot Milicic to fortify the frontline.

Keeping Milicic is of importance because the Magic have only Dwight Howard, Tony Battie, Pat Garrity and James Augustine along the frontline.

The Magic are trying to peddle the expiring contracts of Carlos Arroyo ($4 million), Garrity ($3.8 million) and Keyon Dooling ($3.5 million) to the Sonics. They are willing to sweeten the deal by including one or more future first- and second-round draft picks.

Working a sign-and-trade deal with the Sonics would be beneficial on many fronts. To wit:

It would allow Lewis to sign a six-year deal rather than a five-year deal. His annual raises would be 10.5 percent as opposed to 8 percent. A sixth year could push the contract's worth to approximately $90 million.

It would allow Seattle to get some compensation for Lewis, a cornerstone of the franchise the past nine seasons. Seattle has already traded Ray Allen to Boston and it is clearly in rebuilding mode. Acquiring the expiring contracts would allow the Sonics to dip well below the salary cap next summer and sign a star to pair with No. 2 pick Kevin Durant.

It would allow the Magic to clear enough cap room to bring back the shot-swatting Milicic, 22. He initially sought a contract worth $10 million a season over five years, but because the market is so barren, he might have to settle for $6.5-7 million a year in Orlando.

Milicic's agent, Marc Cornstein, was furious with Magic general manager Otis Smith for not courting his client last Sunday when teams were allowed to start negotiating with free agents. Cornstein said Smith led him to believe Milicic was the Magic's top target, but he was pushed aside in the pursuit of Lewis.

Cornstein questioned Smith's integrity and threatened that Milicic would never return to Orlando. But Smith has tried to repair the relationship.

"You hear stuff like that all the time in this business, but you don't hear about it a lot publicly," Smith said. "I've said from the start that I'd like to keep Darko here and I've never wavered from that feeling."

Natasha Cornstein, a spokesman for Pinnacle Sports, said Friday that the interest in Milicic is strong around the NBA and they are fielding several offers.

Milicic was a restricted free agent a week ago, meaning the Magic had the right to match any offer he received if they so desired. But Orlando withdrew its qualifying offer to Milicic because it wouldn't have had salary-cap room to sign Lewis had Milicic accepted the $6.8 million qualifer.

That made Milicic an unrestricted free agent capable of signing with any team. However, only four teams -- Milwaukee, Memphis, Atlanta and Orlando -- are under the salary cap and capable of giving Milicic more than the mid-level exception ($5.5 million).

If the Magic are unable to execute the sign-and-trade deal with the Sonics and Milicic's camp continues to insist that he won't return to Orlando, the Magic could execute a sign-and-trade deal with any other team.

Chicago, Golden State and Seattle might have interest in Milicic because of his ability to play two positions, block shots and shoot from the perimeter. Milicic averaged 8.0 points and 5.5 rebounds in the regular season and 12.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in the playoffs.

The Magic might be in the hunt for a shooting guard after losing veteran Grant Hill to the Phoenix Suns. He agreed to a two-year deal worth $3.8 million Thursday and will leave the Magic after seven-injury filled seasons.

The Magic will get a look at J.J. Redick, the top candidate to replace Hill, next week when the Pepsi Pro Summer League begins in Orlando. Trevor Ariza, Keyon Dooling and Keith Bogans also can play shooting guard if the Magic don't acquire another one this offseason.