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The Orlando Magic are nearing an agreement to sign Shelvin Mack, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The veteran point guard will reportedly join Orlando on a two-year contract and marks the club’s first free-agent acquisition under the front-office stewardship of Jeff Weltman and John Hammond.
Mack, 27, has played for four teams across six NBA seasons. In the 2016/17 campaign with the Utah Jazz, Mack shot 44.6 percent from the floor and averaged 7.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in 21.9 minutes.
Mack likely won’t challenge Elfrid Payton for Orlando’s starting lead guard job, but he is a serviceable backup. One only wishes he could shoot more accurately from distance: the Butler product is a career 32.1 percent three-point shooter and has shot below that middling mark in each of the last three seasons. When the Magic need shooting at point, they’ll need to turn to D.J. Augustin, their other veteran at that position.
The Magic clearly have more work to do. Perhaps next for Weltman and Hammond: add a third center. The Magic waived Stephen Zimmerman earlier in the week, leaving Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo as their only bigs.