The Magic surprised -- and disappointed -- Gortat and the Mavericks on Monday, matching an offer sheet to keep the Polish big man.
Gortat's agent, Guy Zucker, said the center "was definitely very disappointed today." He said Gortat was back in his native Poland, where he'd already been telling everyone he was headed to the Mavericks.
Gortat was hoping to play alongside Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki and, most of all, compete with Erick Dampier for the starting job. Dampier is going into the final year of his contract.
In Orlando, Gortat will likely see spotty playing time behind Howard.
"It was definitely about the opportunity to find out how good he can really be," Zucker said. "We had requested that Orlando not match the offer. We stated the fact that he sincerely wanted the chance to carve his own path, be his own man, so to speak, which is not going to be realistically possible in Orlando."
this guy is gone.