ORLANDO, Fla. — Vooch?

Really?

He’s back?

Five years ago, when the Orlando Magic traded Nikola Vucevic, I wrote a column that began with three anguished questions:

“Vooch?

“Really?

“Why?”

Today, there’s only one question:

How perfect is this?

How wonderfully, beautifully, ridiculously poetic is it that Nikola Vucevic — the beloved All-Star the Magic traded away to build a championship contender — has returned to Orlando to try to help that contender finally become one?

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Vooch left Orlando to help the Magic build a champion. Now he’s back to help finish the job.

Remember his first press conference after the Magic traded him to Chicago in 2021? Somebody asked what Orlando meant to him and this big, burly 7-footer broke down and cried.

“To me, the hardest part was the people” he said then, wiping tears from his eyes. “Over nine years, you’re going to meet a lot of great people. That place obviously meant a lot to me. I came there as a kid and left as a man.”

And now the man has come home — 35 years old, a husband of 10 years, a father of three. No longer the franchise centerpiece, but the seasoned veteran who can still rebound, still shoot, still score — and maybe teach a talented young team something about professionalism, perseverance and what it means to care deeply about the name across the front of your jersey.

“When I left, it was a big adjustment, but it was probably the right decision for me and for this franchise,” Vooch says now. “The trade helped this franchise start the process of building a winner, and it gave me the opportunity to play for a franchise that was trying to win in that moment, which is something I wanted. But I’m excited to be back now.”

Back to help the Magic win a championship?

Vooch smiles at the question.

“Yeah, that’s the idea.”

Think about the incredible symmetry.

The Magic traded Vucevic to Chicago for, among other assets, a young starting center in Wendell Carter Jr. and two first-round draft picks. One of those picks became Franz Wagner. Then Orlando used its own lottery that summer on Jalen Suggs. A year later, the Magic won the lottery and drafted Paolo Banchero at No. 1.

Vooch left. Carter arrived. Franz arrived. Suggs arrived. Paolo arrived.

And slowly, painfully, finally, the concrete slab I wrote about five years ago began turning into an actual basketball house.

The Magic have now reached the playoffs three straight seasons. They have a talented young core. They have expectations again. What they don’t have is a playoff-series victory. What they don’t have is enough scars, enough wisdom, enough guys who have been around long enough to understand that NBA careers move faster than you ever imagine.

That’s where Vooch comes in.

He doesn’t have to be the Vooch who made two All-Star teams in Orlando. He doesn’t have to average 20 points and 10 rebounds. He needs to make a few shots, grab a few rebounds and, perhaps most importantly, grab a few young teammates by the jersey when necessary and explain what playing for this franchise should mean.

Because Vooch knows. Maybe better than anybody.

Orlando has seen too many stars leave. Shaq left. Dwight left. Penny’s body betrayed him. T-Mac wanted out. For decades, Magic fans have been conditioned to believe their stars eventually depart for someplace bigger, brighter and supposedly better.

Too many stars have left this franchise at the first opportunity. And then there’s Vooch — a star who came back at the first opportunity. Considering he never sold his house in Orlando, you get the idea that this was always part of his master plan. Give Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman credit for convincing Vooch to sign a bargain-basement one-year, $3.9 million deal, although it doesn’t sound like it took much convincing.

“I had some more lucrative offers,” Vooch says, “but I’ve been lucky, I’ve made a good amount of money in my career and I’m set for life. Coming back here was an easy decision. When you look at the team we have, the new coaching staff and the goals, it was something I wanted to be a part of.”

Maybe that doesn’t mean anything to fans in Boston or Los Angeles or New York, but it should mean something here.

Vooch was never as charismatic or electric as Shaq or Penny or Dwight or T-Mac. But statistically, you can make the argument that nobody has accumulated more across the board in a Magic uniform. He returns to Orlando first in franchise history in field goals, second in rebounds and third in scoring — roughly 1,000 points behind franchise-leader Dwight Howard.

And here’s the craziest part: Vooch originally arrived in Orlando almost as an afterthought in the four-team Howard trade in 2012. Dwight forced his way out. Vooch quietly came in.

And all these years later, isn’t it amazing how that worked out? The player nobody was throwing a parade for became a two-time All-Star, one of the most productive players in franchise history and eventually fetched the assets that helped launch the Magic’s latest rebuild.

In hindsight, give former GM Rob Hennigan a pat on the back. Lord knows we didn’t get many chances to do that during his five forgettable years running the franchise, but history says the Magic won the Dwight trade. And Vooch was the biggest reason why.

Now the circle closes. He returns not as the face of the franchise, but as something perhaps more meaningful: a piece of its soul.

Five years ago, I ended my goodbye column to Vucevic this way:

“Godspeed to you, Vooch.

“Thank you for being loyal.

“Thank you for never publicly complaining.

“Thank you mostly for actually wanting to be in Orlando.”

We thought that was a goodbye.

Turns out it was only a see you later.

Welcome home, Vooch.

You helped the Magic start this rebuild by leaving.

Now, hopefully, you can help them finish it by coming back.

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