ORLANDO, Fla.  — The Orlando Magic have agreed to a contract extension with center Wendell Carter Jr.

The team did not announce terms of the deal, as usual, but multiple media outlets reported that it is a three-year, $59 million extension. That would put him under contract through the 2028-29 season, but the team has an option on the final year of the extension, according to the reports. 

Carter was about to begin the third year of the four-year, $50 million contract he signed with the Magic after being traded to Orlando by the Chicago Bulls. 

The Magic faced a Thursday deadline to reach an extension with Carter.

"I just wanted to be here. I'm just super-excited, from where we've came in the three years since I've been here to where we're at now....," Carter said after practice Tuesday. "I told him (my agent, Mike Miller of LIFT Sports Management) I wanted to be here. I wanted to be here a long time, for as ever long as I can and I told him to make that happen. I'm just glad Orlando and I could agree on something to keep me here for a long time."

Since the end of last season, the Magic have reached a maximum five-year extension worth at least $224 million with forward Franz Wagner, locked in forward Jonathan Isaac to a five-year, $84 million extension and signed free-agent guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a three-year, $66 million deal and inked guard Cory Joseph to a multiyear deal.

They also signed backup centers Moe Wagner and Goga Bitadze and guard Gary Harris to multiyear deals and picked up their third-year team options on guard Anthony Black and guard-forward Jett Howard, as well as their fourth-year team option on All-Star forward Paolo Banchero, who will be due for a contract extension next summer.

They also drafted forward Tristan da Silva with the No. 18 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

The only player left in their starting lineup that is not under contract for multiple years is Jalen Suggs. The guard, who was drafted No. 5 overall by Orlando in 2021 — the same NBA Draft as Wagner — remains eligible to sign a rookie extension until Oct. 21. If he does not sign an extension before then, he would become a restricted free agent after the upcoming season. The Magic would retain the rights to match any offer he receives heading into the 2025-26 season.

Carter averaged 11 points on 52.5% shooting in 55 games last season to help the Magic reach the postseason. Over his career, he has averaged 12.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

He has been integral to the Magic's starting unit when available, but he has not played more than 62 games in any season in Orlando. He missed 27 games with injuries last season and left Orlando's preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night after stepping on New Orleans center Daniel Theis' foot and rolling his left ankle. The Magic lost that game 106-104. 

Carter said he hopes to play in their next preseason game Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs but that he expects to be back before the end of the preseason.

The 6-foot-10 Carter played one season at Duke before he was selected by Chicago. The Magic acquired him from the Bulls on March 25, 2021. He has averaged 12.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in 315 career games.