Imagine how much you can accomplish in 15 days. Maybe world peace and things along those lines stay out of reach. But 15 days can still do a lot more. And we’ve got Exhibit A right in the NBA. When Shams Charania broke the deal that sent Desmond Bane from the Grizzlies to the Magic, the Association’s world imploded. Insider info around the trade keeps surfacing as time moves forward. But the biggest revelation so far? How the Magic utilized those 15 precious days.
The league year starts from July 1st. Which means that the Magic had to submit paperwork and get the trade processed by June 30th at 11:59 am ET, before the league year rolls over to July 1st. Why’s this important? Well in that way, the trade would use 2024-25 salary figures—under which they legally matched the payroll. Once July 1st arrived, the players’ 2025-26 cap hits would have inflated their total payroll past the NBA’s first apron, making the trade illegal under league rules.
“If my math is correct, the Magic-Grizzlies trade will have to go official before the league year changes over. Salary-matching works fine using 2024-25 salaries. Orlando would take in slightly more salary using 2025-26 salaries and they would finish the deal over the first apron, which would make the deal illegal,” said Keith Smith of Spotrac.
If my math is correct, the Magic-Grizzlies trade will have to go official before the league year changes over.
Salary-matching works fine using 2024-25 salaries.
Orlando would take in slightly more salary using 2025-26 salaries and they would finish the deal over the first…
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 15, 2025
At the moment it’s just the Magic that’s under this situation. Memphis are well under the first apron. So that clubbed with the picks they just got builds an exciting future for them, if they can tie down Ja Morant for good, of course. But the deal that would’ve made it “illegal” involves the players that are the Desmond Banes of the Magic itself, and the deals that were a big risk from this deal’s standpoint.
Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs’ extensions made the Desmond Bane deal a bit of a risk
Magic’s setup is quite neat. Unlike a lot of the other teams, they don’t heavily rely on one player to be this solid. But that works both ways. Sure, Paolo Banchero will be getting the heap of the credit down in The City Beautiful. But can you really discount Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs? Absolutely not. And their extensions speak volumes of their value.
Wagner signed a 5 year, $224,238,150 extension that goes on till 2029. Suggs too signed a 5 year, $150,500,000 contract. Adding two plus two brings that up to $374.5 million that’s owed to them from next season. And both signed from 2025 onwards, which brings their payrolls to next season. But Bane signed his 5 year, $197,230,450 contract extension in 2024, which did bring that payroll to this season’s. Hence the “legality” of it all was a huge factor.
Mar 29, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane (22) react during the second quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
It was those precious 15 days before the league year turned that saved Magic from making the whole deal illegal. Getting Desmond Bane might bring them back to the top, with their core intact for the foreseeable future. But the question to you is this – is this just luck, or a stroke of genius?
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