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Via Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel:
Whether he stays in Orlando or moves on to Chicago, [J.J.] Redick will make $19 million over three seasons, roughly doubling his 2009-2010 salary with the [Orlando] Magic. He knows the only place he’s going to go for certain is the bank.
As a restricted free agent, Redick can entertain contract offers like the one he received from the Bulls. And as a restricted free agent, he can have that same offer sheet matched by the Magic — and they will have to pay him the count and amount.
The Magic’s dilemma, given they delved heavily into the punitive luxury tax, is whether to retain Vince Carter‘s back-up at shooting guard for the price. They have until sometime Friday to decide.
This is it. One more day until “the decision” is made.
Ultimately, J.J. Redick’s future will hinge on a number of factors.
One factor is whether or not the ownership for the Orlando Magic are willing to sign off on a big contract that will push them further into the luxury tax. The Chicago Bulls deliberately front-loaded Redick’s offer sheet for this very reason. The Bulls are banking, more than anything else, on the first-year offer of roughly $7.5 million being too much for the Magic to afford (the dollar amount decreases year-by-year). General manager Otis Smith, however, said that the decision won’t come down to that. Another factor, and perhaps the main one, will depend on if Smith is willing to slightly overpay — in his eyes — to keep Redick in Orlando. Smith openly stated that he was a little surprised by the contract that Redick received.
It appears, then, that if Redick comes back, it’ll be because the front office for the Magic felt that the dollars weren’t that much higher than where they valued him at.
