Orlando Magic star Nikola Vucevic isn’t going anywhere

Like it or not, Nikola Vucevic figures to be a key member of the Orlando Magic for some time yet.

With the Orlando Magic continuing to puzzle fans in much the same way they have for a number of years now, talk about them being active ahead of the trade deadline persists. This is not without good reason, as a big-time win over the Los Angeles Lakers, despite key players missing with injuries, was recently followed with a loss to the Golden State Warriors.

What made this even worse was the fact the Magic had some guys back for that game in San Francisco and yet they played with less effort and intensity than in the win at Staples Center over the Lakers. This would be frustrating, but the fact that this is not a new development is downright infuriating.

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The Magic do have players they could trade, if deals were to become more known throughout the league. A growing portion of fans would like to see franchise center Nikola Vucevic moved however, so that the organization can go in a different direction heading into what they hope will be another late surge after the All-Star break to close out the regular season.

This is a route that does not seem open to them right now or for the foreseeable future. Looking at the makeup of this roster and the way the rest of the league looks right now, It is not hard to see why: it starts with Vucevic’s position on the court.

We live in a time where a player like P.J. Tucker of the Houston Rockets (listed at 6’5″) can play the 5 and is tasked with guarding guys like LeBron James when they match up. Tucker is among the best defenders in the league, but his physical makeup is far removed from even 10 years ago, when Kendrick Perkins and Andrew Bynum battled it out at that position in the NBA Finals.

So the need for a traditional center is not required to be successful anymore. This is a category Vucevic does fall under, although his improved 3-point shot over the last couple of years (36.5 percent this year) has allowed him to play alongside another center in Khem Birch while the Magic have been dealing with injuries.

Contending teams like to have the flexibility to change their lineups on the fly. Vucevic brings some of that, but not enough for another organization to seriously consider trading for him. There is, after all, a reason the Detroit Pistons have seemed eager to move on from Andre Drummond, despite his apparent willingness to change his game as much as possible.

The fact they have not received much interest does not surprise either.

Which brings us to the real sticking point and why Magic fans should settle in for much more of Vucevic going forward. He just re-signed with the franchise in the offseason, inking a four-year, $100 million deal to remain in Orlando. That’s a lot of money for a player who is worth more to the Magic than basically any other team in the league.

Vucevic also turned 29 in October, and while this means another team could have him through the remainder of his prime, he makes too much money (even with the blessing of Kevin Durant) to slide in as the second- or third-best player on a championship-winning outfit.

This is what Vucevic would have to be, because he alone is getting you no further than a low seed in the East and perhaps not even that much in the West.

There are not a lot of other organizations that have a ton of cap room right now (the Atlanta Hawks are the only team in the league with any at all), which means everyone else is either waiting for this summer or — more likely — the offseason of 2021, to really fill it up.

There may be some deals  out there the Magic could do in the meantime, but all they would serve to do is move the franchise sideways.

Some fans wouldn’t even mind taking a step back if it meant shedding Vucevic, installing Mo Bamba into the starting lineup and going from there, but even if this was possible, they should be wary of this. As the Magic know all too well, becoming relevant again is hard. Doing it with whatever they’d get for Vucevic is even harder.

Besides, the criticism which Vucevic finds himself on the receiving end of from time to time is harsh. When the Magic are winning, he rightly gets some, but not all, of the praise. He should as well, because he has gotten rid of the “empty stats” label he was given when the team was lottery-bound every year to become a huge contributor for them.

He was a first-time All-Star last season, and his Player Efficiency Rating then (25.5) ranked ninth in the league. At 22.1 so far this season, it has taken a dip, but is miles better than the league average of 15. His 3-point shooting has improved over the years, as already mentioned, while defensively he does not get any credit for how much better he has gotten.

Vucevic used to be a complete liability on that end, but by the end of Bismack Biyombo‘s disastrous tenure in Orlando, the Magic had a better defensive rating when Vucevic was on the floor than with Biyombo. Given that Biyombo was only there to protect the paint and rebound, it showed how far Vucevic has come.

This has only continued under current coach Steve Clifford, who also deserves a portion of the credit for this. Vucevic is not the most athletic and is still prone to mistakes. But his footwork, while excellent on the offensive end, is not terrible defensively and he can get up to block and grab rebounds with the best of them.

https://twitter.com/br_orlandomagic/status/1216923872785772544

Vucevic is on course to average a double-double for the sixth time in eight seasons with the organization and he is crucial to their ability to win consistently. Evan Fournier is having his best season with the Magic and often when they win, it is because of both Fournier and Vucevic.

When the team loses, however, the “Euro Bros” take most of the blame, even if the shortcomings on a particular night stretch far beyond the output of those two (other reasons for losing have included an off night by Aaron Gordon, poor shooting from Terrence Ross and strange rotations by Clifford).

Fans would do well to remember this the next time the Magic are going through a rough patch and give Vucevic (and Fournier) the credit he likely deserves. When they inevitably lose again, it’ll be those two getting the blame.

This is especially true for Vucevic, as his contract, what he can do on the court and where, plus his worth elsewhere against what it is in Orlando all mean he will be in the lineup for plenty of time yet.