4:47pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.
1:37pm: The Magic have agreed to sign big man Amile Jefferson to a two-year contract, agent Michael Tellem tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Jefferson had been on a two-way deal with Orlando.
A former undrafted free agent out of Duke, Jefferson spent much of the 2017/18 season on a two-way contract with the Timberwolves, though he didn’t appear in an NBA game for the team. He was on a two-way deal with the Magic for the entire 2018/19 campaign, playing limited minutes in 12 games at the NBA level, before signing another two-way pact for ’19/20.
Although Jefferson hasn’t seen much action in the NBA, he has thrived in the G League, with averages of 17.9 PPG, 12.1 RPG, and 2.9 PG in 81 total games (34.1 MPG) for the Iowa Wolves and Lakeland Magic. He was named to the All-NBAGL Third Team last spring.
The Magic had been carrying just 13 players on their standard roster to open the regular season. NBA rules require teams to dip below 14 players for up to two weeks at a time, so Orlando had to add a player by early next week. Jefferson will be the club’s 14th man once his new deal becomes official.
While Wojnarowski didn’t offer additional details on Jefferson’s two-year contract, I’d expected a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary deal to give the Magic some flexibility.