The Orlando Magic gained a point guard Wednesday with the signing of Jacque Vaughn -- and, in the process, likely demoted Darrell Armstrong and lost Troy Hudson.

Vaughn, 27, played in all 82 games last season for the Atlanta Hawks after spending his first four years in the NBA backing up John Stockton with the Utah Jazz. Although his averages (6.6 points, 4.3 assists) were modest and he might be best known for missing his first 22 field-goal attempts as a Hawk, he had more than three times as many assists as he did turnovers, a ratio that no Magic player could claim.

"He's probably a pass first, shoot second' type guard," Magic general manager John Gabriel said. "There was probably a time in this league when 90 percent of them thought like that. Now it's maybe about 25 percent of them that think that way."

Hudson, who went from averaging 4.8 points a game with the Magic in 2000-01 to 11.7 points last season, doesn't fit in the latter of those two categories. And with Vaughn having accepted a one-year contract worth not quite $700,000, Hudson may not fit in the team's plans for next season and beyond.

While saying "this is more about the signing of Jacque than not signing Troy," Gabriel admitted the move diminishes the chances of the Magic offering a contract to Hudson or any other free-agent guard. Minnesota, Memphis and Seattle are foremost among the teams that have expressed an interest in Hudson.

Gabriel credited coach Doc Rivers, who played 13 NBA seasons as a point guard, for knowing exactly what he wanted at the position in Vaughn. With Armstrong having turned 34 and still having a reckless disregard for his safety on the floor, the Magic envision bringing their captain off the bench and prolonging his career in doing so.

"Like Doc, Darrell Armstrong sees the big picture and sees what it takes to win," Gabriel said. "And whatever that does take, we know that he'll step up to the plate and be ready to do it for the betterment of the team."

Vaughn is durable, having played in 200 consecutive games, the eighth-longest such streak among active players. The Magic could have drafted him in 1997 after he was an All-American as a senior at Kansas, but they instead took forward Johnny Taylor -- who is no longer in the league -- and Vaughn fell to the Jazz.

Vaughn flew into Orlando this week and stayed long enough to take a physical and sign his contract. He left quickly to return to Kansas, where he will be married Saturday.

The signing puts the Magic's payroll at almost $48 million, not including the $2.2 million offer they have tendered to their own restricted free agent, forward Pat Garrity. Gabriel said it could take a while to re-sign Garrity while the Magic explore other ways of improving their rebounding and the ramifications of a decrease of more than $2 million in the salary cap from last season.

"We've got a lot of lines out in the water to different players," Gabriel said.