Wendell Carter Jr. has signed a three-year, $58.7M contract extension with the Magic, Shams Charania of ESPN tweeted. The Magic confirmed the signing in a press release.
Carter is entering his third year of a four-year, $50M contract that was frontloaded. The new deal will keep him under contract through the 2028-29 season.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Carter will make $18.1M in 2026-27, $19.6M in 2027-28 and $21M in 2028-29 (Twitter link). It’s the most money Carter could have received for a three-year extension; Carter’s 2025-26 salary is below the estimated average player salary, so he was eligible for up to 140 percent of the average, Keith Smith of Spotrac noted (Twitter link). Given the rising salary cap, Carter’s salary is a reasonable cost for a starting center.
The Magic now have both of their top big men under long-term deals. Franz Wagner signed a max five-year extension in July. By signing the extension at this time, Carter will be ineligible to be traded this season, Smith added in another tweet.
This is Carter’s seventh NBA season, but he’s still just 25. He’s averaged 12.5 points and 8.5 points in 27.6 minutes through 315 regular-season games. Carter has suffered a variety of injuries throughout his career; he’s never appeared in more than 62 games.
Carter played 55 games last season (48 starts), averaging 11.0 points and 6.9 rebounds in 25.6 minutes. He made his playoff debut last season, averaging 7.6 points and 6.3 rebounds in 26.4 minutes over seven games.
Carter underwent surgery on his left hand after last season. The preventive procedure involved inserting a plate at the site of a fracture on Carter’s hand. He suffered the fracture in early November and had it surgically repaired at the time. He also missed some games last season due to right knee inflammation.
