Magic waive Vaughn, likely to sign Purvis.
LOS ANGELES — The Orlando Magic waived shooting guard Rashad Vaughn on Wednesday. Vaughn was in the midst of his second 10-day contract with the team, but team officials had ruled him out of Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center because Vaughn has a sore right knee.
“He just has some soreness that was going to prevent him from playing during this 10-day stretch,” coach Frank Vogel said. “So it didn’t make sense to have him here when he wasn’t going to be playing.” The Magic likely will sign guard
Rodney Purvis to a 10-day contract and have Purvis available to play when they face the Kings on Friday in Sacramento.
Purvis has averaged 20.5 points and 3.5 assists per game with the Magic’s G-League affiliate in Lakeland. He also has made 38.9 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Passing on Kuzma
A theme emerged early during the Magic’s West Coast road trip. What could have been? On Monday, the Magic lost to the Utah Jazz, who now feature NBA Rookie of the Year candidate Donovan Mitchell. The Lakers, meanwhile, have rookie forward Kyle Kuzma, whom the Magic also had the opportunity to draft.
The Magic used the sixth pick last June to select forward Jonathan Isaac. In doing so, they passed on picking Mitchell, who went 13th overall.
And the Magic also owned a second first-round pick, 25th overall, but decided to trade it to the Philadelphia 76ers for a heavily protected first-round pick in 2020. The Magic also will receive a second-round pick in 2020 as part of that deal.
Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman said the Magic determined the draft “flattened out” around No. 25. Essentially, Weltman was saying the same quality of player was available when the Magic picked 33rd overall.
The Magic also didn’t want to bring in too many rookies at one time.
But the team now has reason to regret unloading the 25th pick.
Kuzma, selected 27th and traded on draft night to the Lakers, entered Wednesday averaging 15.3 points per game and was shooting 36.3 percent from 3-point range.
Kuzma worked out at least twice for the Magic during the pre-draft process — once before Weltman and GM John Hammond were hired and at least once after Weltman and Hammond arrived.
“I don’t think anybody thought he would be this good this early,” Vogel said.
“Otherwise he would’ve been picked in the lottery. The thing that struck me was he’s got a great feel for the game. He’s just a basketball player.
“To see his shooting come along as quickly as it has has been a surprise, and his ability to be assertive scoring the basketball, I think, has been a little bit of a surprise for everyone.”
A brief stomach bug and a lengthy ankle injury limited Isaac to playing in just 18 of the Magic’s first 64 games.
But Isaac has looked so effective on defense since he returned from his ankle injury last Friday that Vogel said it’s tempting to increase Isaac’s role.
“I’m a coach that’s struggled to feel like we’ve had enough defensive firepower over the last two years,” Vogel said.
“It’s definitely tempting to get him out there as much as possible.
“We’ve got to figure out where he fits in terms of offensive organization alongside Aaron Gordon or working with Mario [Hezonja] and sliding [Isaac] over to the three [small forward] some. But defensively it doesn’t matter what position he plays.
“He impacts the game right now. He’s defending like he’s one of our best, if not our best, defenders as a rookie. He’s pretty special.”