National Basketball Association

Orlando Magic set opening night roster, keep Arinze Onuaku, Damjan Rudez

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Orlando Magic have requested waivers on guards Nick Johnson and Ramon Galloway to finalize the Orlando Magic roster for the 2016-17 season.

The Orlando Magic have requested waivers on guards Nick Johnson and Ramon Galloway to finalize the team’s roster for the 2017 season. This indicates Damjan Rudez and Arinze Onuaku have made the Orlando Magic’s opening night roster.

Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical and Chris Haynes of ESPN.com reported the news on Twitter this afternoon.

Forward Damjan Rudez has made the Orlando Magic's opening night roster, league sources tell @TheVertical.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) October 22, 2016

Damjan Rudez and Arinze Onuaku were both signed prior to training camp to non-guaranteed deals. They were both invited to training camp along with another four free agent signings to fight for the final two roster spots in the roster. The Magic previously requested waivers on Branden Dawson, Cliff Alexander and Kevin Murphy.

Rudez was impressive throughout the preseason, especially shooting the ball from behind the arc. He averaged 14.5 minutes per game in preseason and averaged 5.0 points per game, while shooting 55 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from behind the arc.

Rudez will provide the Magic an outside shooting threat off the bench, which is something the team currently lacks. Another area in which Rudez will help the Magic is moving the ball on offense. Rudez did a solid job in preseason distributing the ball on offense and finding the open teammates. This is an area of his game that may be new to some since he has been use mostly as a spot-up shooter throughout his career.

Onuaku, while not expected to see much action on the court, will provide the Magic with some depth at power forward and center. He averaged 8.3 minutes per game in preseason and averaged 4.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 block per game.

Onuaku provides the Magic with a big body to use at the end of their bench. He will serve as a back up to Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo.

The Magic signed Nick Johnson to a training camp invite after his run with the Orlando Magic’s Summer League team. He averaged 4.3 points per game in 10.2 minutes per game in four games during the preseason.

Johnson could very well end up back in the D-League playing for the Erie Bayhawks.

The other player the Magic waived Saturday, Ramon Galloway, almost certainly will be in the D-League playing for their affiliate in Erie. The Magic signed Galloway to a contract Friday before cutting him Saturday. The Magic likely did this to give Galloway some more guaranteed money and ensure he plays for them in the D-League.

With the roster now set at 15 players, the Magic will turn their attention to their season opener at home against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.