Nikola Vucevic finally has his spotlight with the Orlando Magic

Nikola Vucevic has toiled in anonymity with the Orlando Magic, often pushed to the side in everyone’s imagination. He gets his spotlight Sunday.

Nikola Vucevic smiled sheepishly as he stood on the grand stage introducing the competitors in the Taco Bell Skills Competition. He would soon find out he would go up against big-man favorite Nikola Jokic in the (probably) random draw to determine the brackets for the competition.

This has quite literally been the biggest stage Nikola Vucevic has played on in his career.

The Orlando Magic can count the number of nationally televised games they have played in the last six years on one hand. And that might include Vucevic’s turn in the Rising Stars Challenge six years ago. That was the last time Vucevic had a reason to appear at the All-Star Weekend as a participant.

His turn in this competition was as quick as it started. He took an early lead on Jokic, making his chest pass through the target in one attempt and beating Jokic to the layup. That had him shooting his 3-pointer first. He missed, Jokic made and the contest was over.

Vucevic and Jokic hugged in congratulations after it was over. They watched Jayson Tatum defeat Trae Young on a half-court shot to win the competition. Vucevic then took his place among the All-Stars watching the rest of the night’s festivities.

He will get his chance on an even bigger stage (not literally as big as the one he was on for the introductions) during the All-Star Game on Sunday.

It was a nondescript way for All-Star center Nikola Vucevic to make his All-Star debut. In general, Vucevic has lived a nondescript career that granted him little notice.

Playing in Orlando kept him out of the spotlight. He toiled as the best player on one of the worst teams in the league. But even then, he was in the background.

Other players were pushed to the forefront whether it was top picks like Victor Oladipo and Aaron Gordon or players like Tobias Harris. Even his own team seemed persistent in trying to replace him — going through Serge Ibaka, Bismack Biyombo and Mohamed Bamba.

Vucevic kept playing his game and kept producing. Always a reliable double-double and always consistent offensively, at least, Vucevic put his work in with little fanfare. He was someone any fan base or a team could take for granted. He put up numbers that were impressive, but his team was not winning.

That was the case entering this season.

It was the final year of his contract and the Magic seemingly had a young player waiting in the wings as the team tried to reset its rebuild. The writing felt like it was on the wall. But that was hardly the approach anyone within the organization was taking.

Coach Steve Clifford would tell the media early in the season Nikola Vucevic was one of the most difficult players to defend in the league and was someone opposing coaches worried about when they faced the Magic. He scoffed at questions about his defense or production early in the season. Vucevic was his guy and essential to what he was going to build.

That proved to be true as Clifford helped unlock a large portion of Vucevic’s game and help him turn in a career season.

At the All-Star Break, Vucevic is averaging 20.5 points per game, 12.1 rebounds per game and 3.8 assists per game. All are career highs. He is more efficient in the post and better beyond the arc. Clifford is already talking about expanding his 3-point game and running more through him next year — that is if the Magic are able to re-sign him.

And it would be hard for any Magic fan to argue with that. Vucevic is essential to the team’s offense and their burgeoning Playoff hopes.

Defensively, perhaps Nikola Vucevic’s greatest weakness in Orlando coming off the heels of defensive dominance from Dwight Howard, Vucevic has also changed his game.

He is not a great shot blocker by any means, but he does a good job corraling ball handlers and defending the lane. He is better at getting deflections and challenging shots while maintaining rebounding position.

Vucevic’s turnaround on both ends is the Magic’s turnaround in a lot of ways. Without him, none of this works.

And fans are coming along with him now. Winning certainly helps. Vucevic has turned that raw production into results on the court.

The fact Vucevic became an All-Star on a team that was struggling well below .500 and, at the time of voting, on the fringes of the Playoff picture showed the respect the rest of the league had for him, even working behind the scenes.

This year has been Vucevic’s coming out party for that reason.

He is getting the national notice from his peers and colleagues for the work he has put in for Orlando. That respect will surely spill over into his free agency in a summer where several teams will have some money to spend, leaving the Magic with a difficult choice about how to direct their future.

For Vucevic’s part, he has said repeatedly how much it means to him to represent the Magic and Orlando, a place he has called home through thick and thin for seven years. This is a moment not just for him but for the whole organization to get a piece of the spotlight.

The Magic are still without any national television games this year. This may be their only moment in front of the larger NBA world.

Vucevic has worked in the background of the league for a long time. He will be in the background of the All-Star Game on Sunday. He is not one of the top stars. As a big man, he will get precious few touches in this glorified pickup game. Vucevic will likely play some of the fewest minutes of any player in the team.

But Vucevic will be on that stage. He will get his name announced with the Orlando Magic name behind him. The whole NBA world will see it.

Vucevic and the team will be in the spotlight.

And maybe Vucevic will get the recognition and acknowledgment he deserves. At the very least, he is letting his play do the talking this year.