Orlando Magic to make Ben Gordon a free agent, according to report

The Orlando Magic have elected to make Ben Gordon a free agent rather than bring him back for the 2015/16 season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Orlando could have elected to keep Gordon, 32, through the 2015/16 season for $4.5 million, according to Basketball Insiders. Instead, they'll pocket that money and allow Gordon to ply his trade elsewhere.

Gordon made 56 appearances for the Magic, averaging 6.2 points and 1.1 rebounds per game and shooting 43.7 percent from the floor.

The Magic's decision to ink Gordon, a former Sixth Man of the Year and star playoff performer for the Chicago Bulls, in July turned heads, and not in a good way: his signing was of low risk and similarly no reward, and not the sort of move a rebuilding team would typically make.

Gordon mostly acquitted himself with sneaky-good performances in a handful of Orlando wins--he scored 12 points in 14 minutes in a five-point victory over the Sacramento Kings, to name one example--but the Magic would seem to have even less need for him going forward than they did in 2014/15. In the rookies Mario Hezonja and Tyler Harvey, Orlando has added two wings to a group which also includes Victor Oladipo, Evan Fournier, Maurice Harkless, and Devyn Marble.

According to Wojnarowski, the Magic now have $14.5 million in cap space to use when the free-agent negotiating period opens Wednesday.