To hit salary floor, Magic claim Chris Copeland off waivers

As first reported by Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports, the Orlando Magic have claimed veteran forward Chris Copeland off the waiver wire. The Milwaukee Bucks placed Copeland on waivers on February 22nd in order to sign Steve Novak for the stretch run.

However, as Charania notes, Copeland will never suit up for the Magic, as they plan to waive him immediately; Orlando merely claimed him to get his $1.1 million salary on its books, thus meeting the league's salary floor of $63 million. Had the Magic not met the salary floor, they'd have to distribute to their players the difference between their payroll and the floor.

Orlando has made similar moves earlier this season in its effort to avoid the penalty; in separate trades with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it acquired the small contracts of Joe Harris and Jared Cunningham and waived them. All told, the contracts of Copeland, Harris, and Cunningham total nearly $3 million.