The career of All-Star center Nikola Vucevic has been a long one full of twists and turns with the Orlando Magic. From the European big thrown into the Dwight Howard deal, to a guy who was a painfully bad defender. All the way through blaming him for the franchise’s shortcomings, calling him an empty stats player and finally getting the credit he deserves. It has been some journey.
One that for the first time looks like it could potentially end on the right terms. Calls for Vucevic to be traded were nothing new back when he was trying to play next to Bismack Biyombo and Serge Ibaka (seriously, how did anybody think that was a good idea?), because he came to represent the failings of an era of Magic basketball best forgotten about.
Then there were fans who wanted him gone because it was clear the organization could only go so far with Vucevic as their best player. That is still true, but a combination of continuous improvement from Vucevic and a better supporting cast means that the ceiling is higher than what we once believed it was.
The Orlando Magic are nearing a pivotal point in their development, but it does not have to include trading All-Star Nikola Vucevic
Vucevic still couldn’t be the best player on a title team, but at this point, he could be number two on a winner, and that did not look likely as recently as two years ago. Trading him now, then, would be so he could go and play for a contender, having given everything to the Magic in his time in the pinstriped blue.
Then again, Vucevic has shown no indication to leave. He is 30, has a young family and makes a ton of money to play basketball in Florida. It could be a lot worse, and perhaps he knows this. The grass isn’t always greener if that means contending for championships. There’s a lot to be said for being settled and happy going to work each day. As trade rumors heat up, here are three reasons the Magic shouldn’t let Vucevic go anywhere.
3. Nikola Vucevic is the Orlando Magic franchise
It is ironic that for the longest time, Magic fans were looking for a franchise savior who would take them back to relevancy. It was supposed to be Victor Oladipo, but that ended up happening elsewhere after the previous front office ran out of patience in hoping he would take the leap that he eventually did.
Then there was Aaron Gordon. The guy who seems to be two games away from being two games away from putting it all together on a consistent basis. He’s the Magic’s best defender, and he certainly has his uses out there. He just hasn’t become the cornerstone that it was hoped he would be. This may be why he ends up being dealt, no matter what happens to Vucevic.
For a second there, people got too excited about Mario Hezonja, and Jonathan Isaac has been cursed with injury, despite looking like the future of the team. Through all of this Vucevic has been ever-present and somebody who the Magic have leaned on more and more. Kevin Durant is somebody who has always been an admirer too.
He’s been a walking double-double most of his career in Orlando, but these days that often leads to winning basketball. He’s become a dead-eye 3-point shooter (41.2 percent on 6.5 attempts per game), his passing is elite for a big and defensively he has put the work in to not be such a black hole on that end. At this point, Vucevic is this team’s everything.
From a marketing standpoint, he’s not as easy a sell as somebody like Gordon. An American guy with some iconic Slam Dunk contest appearances. But through sheer consistency, Vucevic has become the player that excites Magic fans. They appreciate the beauty with which he executes the more straightforward and routine plays.
Offensively he’s just so good both in the paint and outside of it. You can be sure he’ll even sell All-Star jerseys, even if the gear itself seems to be questionable. If you take Vucevic out of Orlando, you are taking out the soul of this roster, both on and off the court. It takes franchises years to find that, so letting it go when he does it all would be a foolish thing to do.
2. The roster takes a step back
It is really easy when you follow a decent team to quickly forget how bad things used to be. Sports fans are fickle in this sense, they want their team to be perfect all of the time, forgetting that in most team sports there can only be one overall winner each year. Right now that describes a lot of Magic fans, who are questioning the direction of the franchise after two postseason berths.
Yes, it would be great to go further than the first round, and no it doesn’t look like the roster as currently constructed (and with injuries to key young players) will be able to do so. But if Vucevic were traded, and assuming no superstar was coming back which seems the most likely outcome, the Magic would take a very real step back.
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If trying to make it to the playoffs each year is boring you, then your memory of the Rob Hennigan years must have been wiped entirely. Not only was the product on the floor bad, but there were also terrible decisions being made behind the scenes. The kind that saw Oladipo and Tobias Harris leave, with short-term stopgaps like Ibaka and Brandon Jennings moving on quickly.
We are seeing it this season as well. With injuries to Isaac and Markelle Fultz, as well as to rookie Cole Anthony, tanking the year for another high draft pick became the obvious direction to take. This despite wasting an amazing Vucevic year, and with a head coach in Steve Clifford who doesn’t seem to like this approach. He gets his guys to compete every game.
But it is easy to sell fans on one year of this, especially when there are a fraction of usual bodies in the stands as well. If you take Vucevic away from this group, there are zero guarantees that they’ll take a bigger step forward once they’ve taken the step back that will most certainly happen.
If anything the Magic should wait and see what they have with Vucevic, Isaac and Fultz as their core because early indicators before Fultz went down were exciting. Vucevic finally has help on a meaningful level here, so why move him without giving everybody the opportunity to see what they could become? The alternative is uncertainty, something to move away from.
1. No viable trade packages out there
The most obvious reason not to trade Vucevic, including the two arguments already put forward, is that there simply isn’t a package out there that is enticing enough to get the Magic to make a deal. The only reason they should move forward with the Boston Celtics for example is if Vucevic goes to them and expresses a desire to play for a fringe contender.
He deserves that after all of the hard work he has put in over the course of his career, and fans couldn’t begrudge him that either. But with this not looking like it is the case, no names that have been mentioned have grabbed the attention of Orlando Magic fans. He’s not on Bradley Beal’s level in terms of value, but there are few bigs better than Vucevic right now.
That’s kind of the problem in determining his trade value though. Vucevic has always been underrated and while that’s not quite the case now, the market is saturated in big men. DeMarcus Cousins currently can’t find a team. Vucevic is due to make just under $50 million over the next two years after this one, which is not a terrible number at all.
It is just hard for contenders to absorb this when you consider what they are paying their own superstars. It is the reason the Celtics, with their sizeable trade exception, are currently being talked up the most. The league is more dominated by guards now too, although the recent MVP level campaigns of Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic show the pendulum is swinging back around.
But when you factor in what Vucevic is worth to the Orlando Magic, which is more than he would be to any other franchise given his impact on and off the court and how the entire offense is built around him, there just isn’t a realistic and enticing deal out there. Does DeMar DeRozan do it for you in return?
Or Robert Williams III, Payton Pritchard and some picks from the Celtics? If the Charlotte Hornets got involved, what have they really got? Worse still, most of these potential moves, with the exception of the Celtics, would be a sideways move for Vucevic too. You’re not getting close to winning it all with the Hornets or Spurs. This is why staying is the right thing to do.