Magic forward starts business for imminent post-playing career

It's somewhat self-serving that Isaac argues that performance doesn't matter in an athlete's greatness, since he's played just 11 NBA games in the past three seasons with the Orlando Magic. He's more known for making appearances on the conservative outlet Newsmax, standing during a "Black Lives Matter" protest and his outspoken opposition to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Now he's also making clothes to fight "cancel culture." Which may be a smart business move, since the Magic have a huge incentive to cut Isaac before January 10.

Because Isaac missed the entire 2021-22 season, he fell short of the games played thresholds in his multi-year contract. As a result, Isaac's $17.4 million salary for 2023-24 is only guaranteed for $7.6 million, provided Orlando releases him by January 10. That would also get the Magic off the hook for Isaac's $17.4 million in 2024-25.

Isaac was the No. 6 pick in 2017, but has played only 147 of a possible 473 games in his six-year career - he's missed 69 percent of Orlando's games. It's a no-brainer to ditch the team's highest salary ahead of a summer when the Magic may be ready to spend on veterans around their young core.

By then, Isaac may have followed in the NBA-to-political-pundit pipeline established by journeyman center Enes Kanter Freedom, who began appearing on "Tucker Carlson Live" in 2021 when he memorably told Carlson that politically-outspoken athletes should "keep their mouth shut and stop criticizing the greatest nation in the world."

Kanter Freedom claimed he'd been "blackballed" from the NBA due to his criticism of China, after a season where he averaged 3.7 points per game. Perhaps Isaac will rationalize his own release by blaming "cancel culture" or the "woke mob", who he is defying by selling sweatpants for $75. But at least he'll have some comfortable clothes to wear while he's watching NBA games from his couch.