The Orlando Magic have quietly addressed one of last season’s biggest offensive headaches by bringing back Nikola Vucevic on a one-year deal.
For fans, the move comes with plenty of familiarity. Vucevic spent nine seasons in Orlando from 2012-21 and made two All-Star teams during that stretch.
This time around, though, he’s stepping into a different job. Entering his 16th season, he’s expected to back up Wendell Carter Jr. and give the second unit a look it simply didn’t have a year ago.
That missing ingredient was spacing. Orlando tried to make Goga Bitadze the primary center in the bench group, but the fit never fully solved the problem.
The plan was for Moe Wagner to handle that role, yet he never matched the offensive production he showed before tearing his ACL. The result was a non-shooting center on the floor, and that cramped the Magic’s offense throughout the season.
Vucevic changes that. He should share backup center duties with Bitadze, but when he’s out there, Orlando gets a big who can stretch the floor. Last season, Vucevic shot just under 37 percent from three in 64 games with the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics, which is exactly the kind of perimeter threat the Magic were missing.
That matters because Orlando’s team-wide shooting was a real issue. The Magic hit only 34.4 percent of their three-pointers last season, ranking 26th in the NBA. Only the Portland Trail Blazers, Dallas Mavericks, Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings were worse from deep.
A more reliable shooter at center should open things up for Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane, giving them more room to attack the paint. That kind of spacing is a big part of pushing Orlando’s offense forward after it finished 18th in offensive rating last season.
Vucevic alone won’t turn the Magic into an Eastern Conference contender overnight. But it is the kind of smart, targeted fix that can help move the offense in the right direction over time.
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Parker also framed the next challenge in a way that will matter to Orlando fans watching the Eastern Conference tighten around them. He said the Magic believe they can compete with anybody when healthy, but the path gets harder in a conference that has improved around them. The bigger question is whether the confidence that came from last seasons push can carry over, because Orlando is entering the year with a sense that it already has enough to matter if the pieces stay together. [Read more 🡒]
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Noah Penda Faces A Big Year Two Test For The Magic
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Orlando also wants him leaning into the less glamorous parts of growth, especially defensive versatility and making the right play more consistently while cutting down on rookie mistakes. Penda pointed to teammate Jase as part of that environment, praising his work ethic and the way he has grown into a louder sideline presence and a stronger point guard leader, which gives the Magic another steadying voice as they try to sharpen a young roster. [Read more 🡒]