Rashard Lewis Signs w/ Orlando Magic
Free agent forward Rashard Lewis agrees to maximum contract with the Orlando Magic. Rashard's deal is the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement, and will pay him approximately $15 million per year for the next 5 years (could turn into 6 years). His former team, the Seattle Supersonics are trying to work out a deal w/ the Magic which would extend Lewis' contract to 6 yrs, but it would require a sign & trade deal involving other players. Orlando is happy to work something out, since they're likely to be over the salary cap (or close to it). It would only make sense that Seattle signs Lewis for the maximum (6 yrs) and then the two teams work out a trade involving additional players.
Lewis is looking forward to playing alongside Dwight Howard in Florida, a player who the Magic have said will be around for a long time. This is apparently one of the reasons that Lewis signed; because they'd be keeping Howard in town and building a championship caliber team.
You shouldn't feel bad for the Sonics though... they just picked up Kevin Durant and Jeff Green in the NBA Draft. In addition to losing Lewis, they also traded Ray Allen to the Boston Celtics on draft day, so they should have a lot of extra money to sign a couple veteran players to compliment these two rookies.