Orlando Magic: Goodbye, Nikola Vucevic

The Orlando Magic look set to add a number of big men this offseason, making Nikola Vucevic the odd one out.

If you’re an Orlando Magic fan, you’ve got to be happy with how the offseason has gone so far. Puzzled, but ultimately happy. Finally the team is no longer standing pat, instead being aggressive in signing players for next season.

While the world waits on Kevin Durant to decide where he’s going to play, the Magic have worked around that potentially league-altering move, snapping up other notable names in the meantime.

It began with the draft night trade for Serge Ibaka. Then followed the low key addition of Jodie Meeks and that quickly snowballed into D.J. Augustin, Jeff Green and most notably of all, Bismack Biyombo.

While none of the free agent deals are yet official, they ahave been widely reported and look set to take place. Should that happen, the Magic will be a much more veteran-led team next year and many will pick them to make the playoffs.

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One individual not being spoken about throughout all of this, however, is the guy who has been Orlando’s best, most consistent player for over two seasons now. Center Nikola Vucevic has quietly led this team through tough times and has evolved into a fantastic offensive big man.

Unfortunately for him though, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that with three of the five potential new additions also being big men, as well as youngsters Aaron Gordon and Dewayne Dedmon (for now) already on the roster, his time with the team is likely up.

Which is a great shame for a number of reasons, not to mention potentially a massive mistake. Consider this. Vucevic has never played with somebody close to All-Star level in Orlando, yet two seasons ago averaged 19.3 points and 10.9 rebounds a game.

Last season, as guys such as Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo grew, those numbers shrunk to 18.2 points and 8.9 rebounds. Now, considering the Magic weren’t doing much offensively each night, Vucevic carried that load, and he did so without ever complaining.

He’s close as you can be to an All-Star (averaging a double-double for a season, carrying a franchise) without actually being one. He’s not much of a rim protector, but combining him with Ibaka at the 4 could be deadly.

Ibaka is a fantastic rim protector as we know, as well as a respected three-point threat. You add in Vooch’s post moves, soft hands and expanding arsenal away from the basket and you get a combo of big men that many teams would struggle to stop every night.

Instead though, it looks like the team has gone the Biyombo route and it’s kind of strange. He had a breakout postseason this year, acting as the spark on a Toronto Raptors team that made the conference finals.

His ability to hunt down a rebound and generally alter many of his opponent’s possessions meant he was always in line to receive a pay day this summer. I just didn’t think it was with the Magic, considering they have a 25-year-old center who is a top-five offensive player at his position.

Vucevic is midway through a four-year, $53 million contract that he signed back in 2014, a great team-friendly contract, especially when you consider Mike Conley is in line to make $100 million more than him.

Biyombo’s four-year, $70 million deal isn’t the worst, given the influx of television rights money has now hit the league, it’s just that it surely could have been spent in better fashion. Or else this was the Magic’s plan all along?

To ink Vucevic to a deal they knew would look great down the road, making him even more appealing to potential trade partners. Whatever the reason, it seems foolish to simply give away his offensive abilities, in favor of doubling down on putting a wall around the rim.

You still need to score and while guys like Green and Evan Fournier can surely do that, it feels somewhat like a missed opportunity here. Will the Magic be a top-10 defensive team next season? With their new personnel, that would seem likely.

But having different options is how you advance far into the postseason, and right now it looks like Orlando is set on giving one of their difference makers away. They already have a good rim protector in Dedmon, and even if he leaves, cheaper alternatives are available.

I’ve always been a big fan of Vucevic. I was annoyed the team didn’t get a star player back when they traded away Dwight Howard, instead being left with Vucevic and little else. But he took that challenge on and quickly matured into this team’s most consistent player.

Over his last two seasons, he’s averaged more points per game than Dwight Howard. Andrew Bynum, who was also included in that trade that brought Vucevic to Orlando, was never heard from again.

When Orlando was desperately trying to ascend Oladipo to franchise player, it was Vucevic who stood behind him, night after night, steadying the ship and generally being the better player of the two.

He also clearly loves the team, and moving him at this critical junction feels wrong. Not just from an emotional standpoint, basketball is a business after all. But he’s still clearly got so much left to give this team, and offers services nobody else on the roster currently does.

Adding Biyombo, though confusing, may pay off down the road, but it’s a risky move. With Vucevic the team knew what it was getting, and his productivity would have surely increased playing with guys like Ibaka and Green. Every guy has their price, but it feels like the Magic are forcing him out.

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The organization looks set to move on without him, but it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s unlikely Nikola Vucevic, the team’s best player for two plus years, will put on their jersey again. Did it really have to end like this?