3 best Orlando Magic moments of 2019
By Luke Duffy
3. Nikola Vucevic named an All-Star
The significance of center Nikola Vucevic being named an All-Star in 2019 was huge for the Orlando Magic. They had not had one since Dwight Howard back in 2012 and the fact that they played the same position allowed fans to move on in a way that they had not been able to before, even if Vucevic remains a divisive figure.
People around the league were recognizing not only were the Magic on the up again, but they were being led once more by a center. Vucevic himself had a monster year, averaging 20.8 points, 12 rebounds and 3.8 assists, all career highs. He also finished ninth in the league in Player Efficiency Rating (25.5), a huge personal achievement for him.
The All-Star appearance also put to bed the longest running gripe that some had with Vucevic and that was that he was an empty-stats kind of player. He had come close to the kinds of numbers we saw in 2019 in the past, but he had always done so on lottery-bound outfits that were lucky to scrape together 30 wins.
Under coach Steve Clifford, however, he was unleashed offensively with everything flowing through him, as it continues to do so today. His combination of movement and soft touch, as well as a 3-point game that continues to improve (Vucevic shot a career-high 36.4 percent in 2018-19), serving what had been a stagnant Magic offense extremely well every night.
Gone was the minutes sharing with horrific misstep Bismack Biyombo, with Vucevic even becoming a better defender during this stretch. He may never be mistaken for Rudy Gobert, but he became a two-way player while continuing to improve and expand his offensive game and that was huge for the organization as they began to put together impressive wins.
It was also nice to see Vucevic recognized for his years of toiling away and getting no reward for it, not to mention the fact that he also got to play with a legend in Dirk Nowitzki, somebody whom he looked up to on the basketball court. For a team that had had nothing to smile about and wasn’t going to the NBA Finals anytime soon, this was a sweet moment.