San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs are definitely a very intriguing dark-horse trade candidate for Nikola Vucevic because of their ties to international players and their need for an impactful frontcourt player. With LaMarcus Aldridge in the final year of his contract and now 35 years old, plus the fact that they are very much in the playoff picture out West, the Spurs could really benefit from acquiring Vucevic from the Magic.

This season, the Spurs are currently 12-10, but have virtually no reliable options in their frontcourt outside of Aldridge. If they were to move him and some draft picks to acquire Vucevic, they could not only be a playoff team this year, but quickly build themselves into a true championship contender. 

With DeMar DeRozan, Patty Mills and Rudy Gay being on expiring contracts this season, the Spurs would still have an estimated $25M in cap space to spend entering free agency next season, which could be used to re-sign these guys or another high-level free agent target. 

Pairing DeRozan with Vucevic gives the Spurs two reliable, All-Star potential players, along with their slew of youthful talent that has stepped up this year. With Dejounte Murray, Keldon Johnson, Lonnie Walker and Derrick White all being young, high-level players, the Spurs would have the depth to be able to make some noise in the Western Conference moving forward. 

It makes a lot of sense for the Spurs to go after an established center like Nikola Vucevic in a trade with the Magic, especially since LaMarcus Aldridge is set to become a free agent and the only other somewhat productive big man on this roster is Jakob Poeltl. 

While they did give him a three-year contract this offseason, Poeltl is not the future of the Spurs frontcourt and as a result, trading for Vucevic gives them the stability they need. Adding Nikola Vucevic to their roster not only saves the Spurs some money, but gives them that other All-Star talent they need to remain relevant in a crowded Western Conference.