Channing Frye decided not to wait around and see if better offers would come after Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James make their decisions — he is taking the money and heading to Disney World.
Or, close to it in Orlando.
The two sides have reached a deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Channing Frye has agreed to a four-year, $32 million deal with the Magic, source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 7, 2014
Joshua Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel has more details.
Magic GM Rob Hennigan and coach Jacque Vaughn spent today out of town to make a recruiting pitch to Frye.
— Josh Robbins (@JoshuaBRobbins) July 7, 2014
(Out of town meaning not at the Orlando Summer League games.)
To me that price, more than the mid-level exception, is steep for Frye. The Magic have just drafted Aaron Gordon and Andrew Nicholson at the four, both young talents who now will split up minutes with Frye.
Frye missed all of the 2012-13 season with an enlarged heart but bounced back with good numbers last season, including 11.1 points per game.
Frye is a classic stretch four — more than half of his shots last season were three pointers and he knocked down 37 percent of them (which is actually below his career average). Teams do better when he is on the court.
There are things to like — starting with the fact the Magic needed three point shooting (20th in league in percentage last year). Now when Elfrid Payton or Victor Oladipo drives there will be someone to kick out to who can knock it down. Combine that with Nikola Vucevic up front and that’s an interesting starting five in Orlando. Not sure they make the playoffs (even in the East) but it’s interesting.