Nikola Vucevic inching closer to his return, Orlando Magic will still have to find its way

Nikola Vucevic provided an update on his progress returning from injury. He is eager and said he is making progress, but a return is still a little ways off

Nikola Vucevic seemed in good spirits as he updated the media on the progress of his return from a sprained right ankle.

The good news for the team still seemed muted. The nasty-looking ankle sprain is not as serious as they once believed. And the Magic got Aaron Gordon back from his own sprained ankle Friday night.

Even after a frustrating loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Orlando Magic seemed optimistic and hopeful for what the team could still do. They were still putting all the pieces together and they believe that at some point it will click.

After all, the Magic are sitting in the pole position at eighth in the Eastern Conference, even if they are losing some ground on the rest of the league.

Getting Nikola Vucevic back and healthy is a big part of that puzzle. And so the team is waiting to see when he will return. The team said they would provide an update about 10 days after his injury. That date was Saturday.

Vucevic is still listed day-to-day officially, but he is not anywhere near ready to return. Still, the news seemed largely good as he builds strength and works toward his return.

He spoke to the media after the Magic’s practice Saturday and said he has started doing spot shooting — no jumping, however — and is able to run in the team’s zero-gravity treadmill.

Those are all positive signs for the Magic’s All-Star center. Baby steps on his return to the court. But Vucevic still has a lot of work to do to rid himself of any pain and return to the court. The Magic probably are not going to expect him to return until this next batch of road games is completed.

Ideally, he will be ready for the team’s final two home games in that stretch on Dec. 15 and 17 against the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets before the team heads out to the West Coast.

The Magic certainly are eager to have him back. Orlando’s offense works significantly better with Vucevic on the floor as someone who can create some gravity and force the defense to double team him.

Orlando has a team-best 109.1 offensive rating with Vucevic on the floor and a team-best +5.6 net rating overall. Orlando is a better defensive team with Vucevic on the floor too, somewhat surprisingly. He just knows where to be on both ends and can help the team turn the tide.

Since Vucevic went down with an injury, Orlando is scoring 99.5 points per 100 possessions. That is worse than the team’s already team-worst mark.

Some of that is certainly because Aaron Gordon missed that same time too. He made his return to the court Friday, scoring eight points on 2-for-11 shooting. More than anything, Orlando missed his discipline defensively.

The Magic at least showed some good defensive signs in the 90-83 loss to the Raptors. The Magic will also hope Gordon can provide some boost offensively, although he has struggled with his consistency on that end.

Adding another weapon offensively to vary their attack and ease some of the creation burden should help the team find its footing again.

As the Magic saw with Gordon, things can recover very quickly for this kind of injury.

Vucevic is making progress, feeling better and doing more every day. His return is not imminent by any means, but the Magic are happy to hear he is nearing his return to the court.