San Antonio Spurs have ‘significant interest’ in Nikola Vucevic

Like clockwork, the NBA trade deadline is bringing us new rumors about the San Antonio Spurs. Last week, Shams Charania reported that the team was fielding calls on its veteran players but didn’t offer anything significant yet on that front. This week’s rumor is similar in that it’s unlikely it will lead to much but still interesting.

Still, we must do our due diligence when a reputable source indicates anything the Spurs might be cooking up. In his latest power rankings for The Ringer, Kevin O’Connor offered up some intel on someone San Antonio’s front office has their eyes on: two-time NBA All-Star center Nikola Vucevic.

At 30-years-old, the Montenegrin center is having the best season of his career, averaging 24.6 points and 11.6 rebounds. The only problem? It’s not translating to wins. At 13-23, the Orlando Magic have the fourth-worst record in the league and second-worst record in the Eastern Conference.

The San Antonio Spurs would thrive with Nikola Vucevic

While O’Connor relays that most front office executives are skeptical the Magic will deal Nikola, he includes the Spurs as one of four teams that have “expressed significant interest” in acquiring his services. The other three teams are the Heat, Celtics, and Hornets.

Given that Vucevic’s contract still has two years left, the price would be steep for him, but it’s a no-brainer that the Spurs would want a guy with his skill set on the roster. He would quickly become the Spurs’ best offensive big man, with Jakob Poeltl remaining the team’s defensive centerpiece.

Vucevic is shooting a career-high 41.2 percent from 3-point range this season on a career-high 6.5 attempts per game. The Spurs only have two bigs capable of knocking down the long ball, although LaMarcus Aldridge is playing fewer and fewer minutes while Luka Samanic might be regulated back to the end of the bench soon.

As we move closer to the trade deadline on March 25th, we’ll keep our fingers on the pulse of this and all Spurs rumors and potential movies.