In my neverending quest to determine who the best player on the Magic actually is, I have switched allegiences several times. Some days it is Evan Fournier, who leads the team in raw scoring while also scoring efficiently. Some days it is Nikola Vucevic, if I’m feeling nostalgic for the days when he was a nightly 20/10 threat. Some days it is Elfrid Payton, actually I’m kidding about that one. Some days, of course, it is Serge Ibaka who I think is the best on the team.
He’s averaging a career-high in scoring and his percentages are great for what he is, which is a primarily jumpshooting big man. He can knock down threes better than any other Magic Man, big or otherwise. He plays defense, allegedly. He has cool stories about what it was like to grow up in Africa. He has cool stories about what it was like to play with Kevin Durant. He has cool stories about how much Durant and Westbrook hated each other. Those are intangibles, for sure, but intangibles definitely count when attempting to determine if a player is better than another.
Serge Ibaka also has a rather impressive third intangible. It’s definitely more impressive than Fournier’s tiny little intangible. I’m just going to leave it at that and pronounce Serge Ibaka as the Magic’s best player. For now.