What about Darko?
The most interesting question involving the Lewis signing is how it affects Milicic. It appears the Magic will have to renounce his rights to fit Lewis under their salary cap. Considering the Magic sent Detroit a first-round pick for Milicic a year and a half ago, it's surprising that they seem so willing to let him go.
However, they still can make some moves in the coming days to try to squeeze in Darko. The most obvious trade target is Hedo Turkoglu, who has three years remaining on a deal for the full midlevel exception. Turkoglu is a 6-10 small forward who likes to shoot from the corners; as you might have noticed, Lewis is also a 6-10 small forward who likes to shoot from the corners, making Turkoglu utterly redundant.
The other candidate would be Carlos Arroyo, the flashy point guard who fell out of favor in the second half of last season. Because the Magic have two other candidates to back up Jameer Nelson (Keyon Dooling and Travis Diener), it would seem his $4 million per year is highly expendable.
Together, dealing those two players would trim $10 million from the payroll, leaving more than enough space to re-sign Milicic. Finding a taker is the problem. They'd have to be dealt to a team under the cap, or in exchange for players with non-guaranteed contracts (Houston's Bob Sura, who has limited salary protection, is the only substantial one that comes to mind). It probably would cost the Magic a draft pick just to get rid of them, too.
Unfortunately, those teams that are under the cap are the same vultures who will begin circling once Orlando has to renounce its rights to Milicic. So don't expect Atlanta, Memphis or Charlotte to come riding in to save the day here. Those three teams all have obvious needs in the middle and enough cap space to make Milicic a wealthy man.
Additionally, the Magic might not be terribly motivated to keep Milicic in any scenario. As our Chris Sheridan reported earlier this week, Orlando didn't even put in a courtesy call to Darko when free agency opened on July 1.
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