Goodbye, James Augustine. We hardly knew ye.
The Orlando Sentinel reports the Orlando Magic waived the second-year power forward "as expected." The move means the Magic have 12 players with guaranteed contracts on their roster. They'll sign another player, possibly Adonal Foyle, to meet the league minimum of 13 players.
Of course, it's also possible the Magic waived Augustine to free roster space for a potential trade, but given the relatively small size of his contract (approximately $900,000 $800,000), I find that scenario unlikely.
As for Augustine, I imagine he'll catch on in the D-League or overseas. He's young (24), tall (6'10"), and fairly athletic. He never struck me as a particularly talented player, but he did play hard and appeared to want to earn his minutes.
I'm contractually obligated* to point out that the Magic selected Augustine 41st overall in the 2006 NBA draft, one pick ahead of Cavaliers three-point assassin Daniel Gibson and six picks ahead of Jazz rebound machine Paul Millsap.
UPDATED: the Sentinel updated its report. Among the newly added details:
Magic General Manager Otis Smith said he would like Foyle to return and would speak to his agent, Lon Babby, in the next few days.
"Adonal's a big body, he knows how to play," Smith said. "We'lll [sic] see where it goes."
[....]
The Magic had until today to either re-sign the 6 foot-10 Augustine to a guaranteed contract of about $800,000 or waive him.
I think the Magic would be better off looking to the D-League for potential third-string bigs. Matt from Ridiculous Upside listed Rod Benson, Carlos Powell, and Chris Alexander as the best such available players as of yesterday. Will Otis at least consider reaching out to a youngster with upside? Well, probably not, but he should keep his options open.
*: Not really.