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Nikola Vucevic’s injury throws Orlando Magic’s season into a deep pit

By Philip Rossman-Reich

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 23: Marreese Speights #5 of the Orlando Magic handles the ball against the Washington Wizards on December 23, 2017 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 23: Marreese Speights #5 of the Orlando Magic handles the ball against the Washington Wizards on December 23, 2017 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Nikola Vucevic‘s injury adds another big name to their inactive list. And it now has the Orlando Magic staring into the abyss as their season hits freefall.

38. Final. 130. 142. 103

The Orlando Magic were already behind the 8-ball entering their game against the Washington Wizards on Saturday. It had been that way for the better part of two weeks.

Evan Fournier‘s injury and Aaron Gordon‘s concussion had taken away two of the team’s top scorers. Terrence Ross‘ injury had taken away a quality veteran and some needed bench scoring punch. Jonathan Isaac‘s sprained ankle cost the team its prized young prospect.

It was a quartet of key players for a team that was already facing a small margin of error. Even through the hot start, everyone seemed to know how precarious things might be. The Magic needed a strong effort from their best players.

That message has been doubled as the team loses manpower to injuries. That was a message Nikola Vucevic certainly took to heart, upping his play as the Magic went through their schedule trying to find a win.

They still did not come. And Orlando seems like it will find it harder to break through now as the hits keep coming.

Whatever air was remaining in the Magic’s balloon surely came rushing out as Ian Mahinmi poked at the ball in Nikola Vucevic’s hands and got nothing but hand. Vucevic paused a bit, looking at his hand and grimacing before asking for a stoppage.

X-rays revealed he had fractured a bone in his left hand and would need surgery, knocking him out for 6-8 weeks. The Magic’s season, already collapsing, seemingly had come crashing down for good.

The Magic are staring deep into the abyss.

The injuries the Magic are facing right now are unprecedented. There are not many instances of the Magic facing constant absences of key players — not at least until the end of a tanking season.

Orlando Magic
Orlando Magic /

Orlando Magic

There was the strange illness that worked its way through the team in December 2010 that led to a game where Orlando played with just eight players, starting Chris Duhon and playing Malik Allen heavy minutes as even Dwight Howard was ill.

Even on the Magic broadcast discussion meandered to a January 1992 game where the Magic played with eight players and somehow snapped a 17-game losing streak with Nick Anderson, Sam Vincent and Terry Catledge each playing 45-plus minutes.

That 1992 season saw Dennis Scott play in only 18 games, Sam Vincent in 39, Nick Anderson in 60 and Jerry Reynolds in 46. Orlando may not have been down all those players all at once, but that was about as close a comparison as there is to this year’s injured bunch.

And like that team, this year’s Magic team is disappointing. Orlando finished with just 21 wins and felt like a team that was stagnating. They won the Lottery the following year and added Shaquille O’Neal.

There is no guarantee of that luck following this year’s pain. Right now, all there is the pain. And five years of accumulated pain and more pain to come.

It is not even Christmas and it feels like the Playoffs have slipped away, no matter how much optimism coach Frank Vogel might have in his team or what anyone else might say. The Magic have sunk low in the standings — fifth-best odds in the Lottery and closer to the top overall pick (2.5 games) than the eighth seed (seven games).

There is possibly some momentary relief coming. Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon should be coming back soon — possibly this week. Jonathan Isaac should not be too far behind them. That will give the Magic a momentary boost for sure. That could return the team to some form of respectability.

But the outlook remains bleak. Even the evaluation Jeff Weltman wanted to accomplish with this group of players might be disrupted. It is hard to get a sense of this team when it has not been at full strength for long.

This realization is as difficult to come to terms with as anything else. The season feels like an abject failure and it is not even halfway over. That is a sign of the failure of the last five years of rebuilding and the stark reality of the Magic’s current situation.

Weltman has a lot of work to do to fix this team. That was evident well before the season, especially with how few changes he was able to make. The injuries have made more changes difficult — Vucevic will not be back until right before the trade deadline at its most optimistic. At least in the short term.

The Magic are the team that they are right now. They are again stuck with little maneuverability. And, again, they seem to be angling for a high draft pick. It seems the more things have changed, the more they have stayed the same.

Frustratingly so. The fast start acted as a tease. Something to make the losing streak so much more infuriating.

The season, of course, is not over. There is more than half the season left. Every team is capable of going on a crazy run and changing the season. The odds are just extremely low. It is easy to give in.

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The Magic will get healthy again and will almost certainly play better than they do. They are not as bad as they have been.

Yet, the reality is also this team has lost 18 of its last 21 games now. Orlando has sunk to be one of the worst teams in the league by net rating in the last month and a half. There have been legitimate and repeated questions about the team’s effort and fight on several occasions.

Even Saturday’s game, the Magic never really had the fight to make a run. They fell behind farther and farther. Even taking out the defensively challenge Nikola Vucevic and putting in Bismack Biyombo did not change the Magic’s defensive fortunes much.

Orlando has had to find a way for several weeks now and have struggled to do so. Another injury only increases the difficulty. The margin of error gets smaller. If the Magic are indeed still trying to win (and why wouldn’t they be?), the odds are that much longer.

The season has derailed faster than anyone could imagine.

Vucevic might have been a person of scorn for some. He was an imperfect player, but one who committed himself to his team at all times. Vucevic was doing some superhuman things to keep the Magic in some games. He could never do it alone — nor should the Magic have ever asked him to.

The situation for the Magic is bleak right now. Orlando has its work cut out for it to bring the season back from the brink.

Next: Grades: Washington Wizards 130, Orlando Magic 103

But it is clearer now the season is in free fall. At the very least, the Magic are staring deep into the abyss.