With the soap opera that is the Dwight Howard saga drawing headlines, it was not a huge story when free agent Jameer Nelson opted for free agency this summer. But with that the Magic could have lost arguably their second best player to a new home.
Instead, Nelson has agreed to a three-year deal to return to the Magic, the point guard told the Orlando Sentinel.
“I was prepared to go where I needed to go to continue my career, and I think I kind of expressed that to the organization,” Nelson said. “But I also told them that I would love to come back.
“Genuinely, I love the city. I love the organization. I’ve learned a lot from the people in the organization. The (Magic owners the) DeVos family means a lot to myself and my family and it means a lot to me that they always put out a winning product.”
Terms of the deal are not yet known, and he cannot sign it until July 11.
Nelson opted out of $8 million for this season and may be getting a little less this season but likely not much. Is that overpaying for him? Maybe, and now you have him until he is age 33 and he could slip a little. But the fact is he was not the problem last season in Orlando — 11.9 points, 5.7 assists, solid game — and when you do go into rebuilding mode after the inevitable Howard trade he is another asset you can move.
This was a solid play by Orlando.