The Magic might have offered a partial guarantee to keep Appling, who also played on their summer league team, in the pipeline. How else will they use their cap space? In five summer-league games, Appling averaged 15.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game and helped the White team finish as the league’s runner-up. Appling is aggressive at getting to the basket and has a strong handle on the ball, and he could be the flawless third guard to further accent the Magic’s scoring attack. He was never really the best player on Michigan State’s team, but he was a leader and someone Coach Tom Izzo looked to in tough situations. Watson and Elfrid Payton both as taller floor generals, going away from the model of an undersized point that was seen so much with Jameer Nelson playing the bulk of the minutes.
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The plan is for the Magic to reportedly cut Appling late in training camp so they can designate him to their D-League affiliate, unless, of course, he impresses them enough in camp to make the team.
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That came after a strong end to the regular season in the NBA’s D-League, in which Appling averaged 18.3 points per game in his last nine games of the regular season after being traded from the Los Angeles D-Fenders to the Erie Bayhawks midseason. Appling was on his way to an All-Big Ten caliber season his senior year at MSU in 2014, before a wrist injury half way through the year sullied those chances, as Appling would eventually go on to be undrafted in the 2014 National Basteball Association Draft.
