Magic's Nikola Vucevic: Plays through shoulder issue in Monday's loss

Vucevic (shoulder) finished with 11 points (5-8 FG, 1-2 FT), six rebounds, five assists and one steal across 23 minutes in Monday's 112-80 loss to the Bulls.

Analysis:

Vucevic was reportedly nursing a strained shoulder heading into Monday's game, but it didn't end up impacting his playing time, though he did see a season-low 23 minutes. Instead, it was the blowout nature of the game that affected Vucevic's minutes, which put a damper on his statistical outputs. While Vucevic has fended off Bismack Biyombo for the starting job at center thus far, his numbers have taken a big hit through the Magic's first seven games. He's averaging 12.3 points and 10.7 rebounds in 28.0 minutes per contest, with the points and minutes representing his lowest marks since his rookie season of 2011-12.