As the 16th pick in the draft, he opened the doors to the NBA, and after the lockout and the days during which he wore the Buducnost jersey, he finally played among the best in the world for the first time on December 28, 2011.
Nikola Vučević made his NBA debut in Phoenix, when he helped Philadelphia convincingly defeat the Suns (103:83) with six points and the same number of rebounds.
Fourteen years later, next to the Montenegrin basketball player's name after his Chicago team's game in Atlanta, there is a big number - 1.000 matches played in the regular season of the strongest league in the world. Something that 153 other players in NBA history have achieved besides him.
In a league that often "swallows" those who are average, this number is especially important and perhaps best demonstrates the consistency that Vučević has had throughout all 15 seasons wearing the jerseys of Philadelphia, Orlando, and now Chicago.
"Vučević sets really high standards for himself and when that standard is not met, I think he becomes extremely frustrated and then gets very angry with himself," Nikola's coach Billy Donovan said recently, perhaps accurately describing what it is that keeps our center at a high level in the NBA.
Vučević is slowly turning his 15th season, having played 1.000 matches and over 31.000 minutes, scored more than 17.000 points and grabbed over 10.000 rebounds.
What is particularly impressive is that he had a double-double performance in more than half of his matches - in exactly his 571st game. He also has a career double-double average - 17,2 points and 10,4 rebounds.
He played 51 games for the Seventy-Sixers, 591 for the Magic, and 358 for the Bulls so far.
His best seasons were those in which he made it to the All-Star game - as a center for Orlando in 2019, he averaged 20,8 points, 12 rebounds, and 3,8 assists, while in the 2020/21 season, when he played for both the Florida team and Chicago, he recorded 23,4 points, 11,7 steals, and 3,8 assists per game.
His numbers from last season (18,5 points, 10,1 rebounds and 3,5 assists) show that he is still at a high level, while at the start of this season he is averaging 16,1 points, 9,2 steals and 3,5 assists. In addition, he has already decided several matches in the final seconds this season.
Nikola's 1.000 - and she keeps counting them...
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