Appling earns two-year deal with Magic

Keith Appling had a strong showing as part of the surprising Orlando “White” summer league team and he’s been rewarded with a two-year partially guaranteed deal.

Appling has the pedigree to succeed at the National Basteball Association level as a four-year player for Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Adreian Payne (Timberwolves), Gary Harris (Nuggets), and Branden Dawson (Clippers) were all members of that 2013-14 team.

Just how did he go from short-term end-of-the-bench player for the Los Angeles Lakers last season to a semi-guaranteed contract over two years with the Magic this July?

What’s more is that he also made a strong defensive showing in summer league, and at 6-foot-2, he has the size to cover all opposing point guards. The Magic WHITE team ultimately finished the Summer League with only one loss-coming in a double-overtime sudden-death game against the Memphis Grizzlies’ Sumemr League team.

Appling appeared in 38 games for the BayHawks last season. The point guard was even able to follow up a 30-point game with a 31-point game only six days later.

RealGM says the Magic were impressed by Appling in the Orlando Summer League, where he averaged 15.6 points, three rebounds and three assists in five games. 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.