It’s no surprise Magic are shopping Nikola Vucevic

The Orlando Magic are looking to flip center Nikola Vucevic for some assets and draft picks. This should catch no one by surprise in the Magic Kingdom.

For the past three seasons, it seemed that the one common thing around the Orlando Magic — other than losing — has been trade rumors surrounding Nikola Vucevic.

Vucevic has grown accustomed to this yearly song and dance, and the music is being played again this summer, with Bleacher Report putting out a story that shouldn’t have caught Magic fans (including yours truly) off guard.

The guys calling the shots in the land of Mickey Mouse, Jeff Weltman and John Hammond are searching for the right package that would allow them to unload Vucevic. It’s not that Vucevic’s game has grown stale, it’s just that he doesn’t fit what the Magic are trying to build now.

With the drafting of Mo Bamba, and the team putting its magical bucks where their mouths are in Jonathan Issacs and Aaron Gordon, the team has a frontcourt that they can build around, and Vucevic is, sadly, the odd man out in this situation.

Vucevic is a nice trade chip thanks to his offensive skills and his ultra-friendly contract. There’s only one year remaining on the four-year contract extension he signed in 2014, which would make him perfect for a team that is looking for scoring help in the middle off the bench (I’m looking at you, Houston).

The Vucevic trade rumors are just another sign that the new team management is trying their best to scrub away the remaining funk of the  Rob Hennigan era, who’s awful decisions nearly ran this team into the ground during his five seasons here, and any player had deals during this dark time are getting shown out the door.

Maybe this would not be a bad thing for Vucevic, who is in desperate need of some new scenery.