Orlando Magic: 2018-19 player grades for Nikola Vucevic

Highlights

The obvious answer here is Nikola Vucevic becoming the Magic’s first All-Star since Dwight Howard, and it was well deserved.

“Vooch” spoke at the time about his admiration for Dirk Nowitzki as well, so it was nice that he got to play with him on what was the final midseason exhibition classic appearance for the Dallas Mavericks legend.

Vucevic didn’t do much during the game itself though, as he scored four points and recorded five rebounds in 12 minutes of action.

During the season itself he was at his best during a big home win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 18 in which he posted 36 points and 13 rebounds.

One week later Vucevic repeated the trick, going for 31 points and 15 rebounds out in Los Angeles to sweep the season series over the Lakers.

Given the relationship that exists between both franchises and the departures of Howard and Shaquille O’Neal to their rivals out west throughout the years, it was nice for the perceived “little brother” to get one over on the more storied team.

Vucevic was integral to that, looking like the best player on the court for much of both games, despite sharing it with LeBron James. It also served as a springboard for the rest of their season, to let the league know that both the Magic and Vucevic could hang with more fancied opponents.

He was also big during a crucial two-game trip down to Mexico, in which the Magic beat the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz.

That time away was a potential banana-skin as they had lost the previous three games going into it and couldn’t afford to lose more ground on the teams around them.

Instead Vucevic posted 25 points and 10 rebounds against the Bulls, and 15 points and 19 rebounds against a tough Jazz outfit.

By the time the regular season was in the books, Vucevic had posted a Player Efficiency Rating (league average 15) of 25.5., the ninth-best number in the league. Big performances at crucial times were what placed him so high on that list.