By John Denton
FLORIDA TODAY
ORLANDO -- Jameer Nelson and the Orlando Magic reached an agreement Tuesday night on a contract extension that will keep the point guard with the team for at least five more seasons, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
Nelson had until midnight Wednesday to get an extension signed or he would have become a restricted free agent next summer. Fearing that he might have had to play this season without a contract extension, Nelson revealed recently that he had taken out an insurance policy to cover him in case of a career-threatening injury.
The Magic open the season Wednesday at home against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The exact specifics of the deal were unknown, but the Magic had been offering Nelson a five-year, $30 million deal. Nelson, 25, had hoped to get a contract similar to the $42 million pact that point guard Devin Harris signed with the Dallas Mavericks.
It is believed that the two sides met somewhere in the middle.
``I’m a starting point guard. I need starting point guard money,’’ Nelson said on Monday, a day before the deal was finalized.
Nelson, who has spent his entire three-year NBA career with the Magic, has been one of Orlando’s best players this preseason, averaging 9.9 points and 5.0 assists per game. He has thrived in new coach Stan Van Gundy's wide-open offense and has a sparkling 35-to-9 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Nelson said he had prepared himself mentally for a scenario in which he and the Magic didn’t reach a deal.
``I’m prepared to leave. I’m prepared to go outside of my comfort zone,'' he said a day earlier.
Nelson has played this preseason with a heavy heart after his father, Floyd ``Pete’’ Nelson died in September following a bizarre drowning accident in the Delaware River near Chester, Pa.