One thing I have learned over the years, is that you can’t make people care about players they don’t want to care about. You just can’t do it. People with way more clout in the NBA sphere than I have can’t do it. No one can. There is simply nothing anyone can do to drive interest in the uninteresting players of the league. It has to happen naturally. LeBron James could’ve received exactly 0 endorsements and still been the face of the league. Nikola Vucevic could get a multi-billion dollar ad campaign with Nike and he might not sell a single pair of sneakers except to confused moms who just want to get their son something nice. Can you even imagine someone saying non-ironically “I gotta get me those new Vucci 10’s”?
Vucevic got a triple-double (just like Jokic) already this season, and now he’s scored 36, which is practically 40. Never mind that he really did score that much last season. He’s a pure bucket-getter, kinda like a bigger white T.J. Warren, he hoovers rebound like your mom hoovers my rod, he has synergy with Evan Fournier (another totally ignored player), everything’s there. He’s great. I love him. He’s a double-double machine. But all that is not enough for the average NBA fan to give even half of a crap about his on-court exploits.
If he punched a hooker and led cops on a high-speed chase through the confusing maze of parking lots surrounding Disney World while sprinkling cocaine out the window, would that be enough? Only one way to find out.