Nikola Vucevic walked away from Boston this summer with a new contract and a front-row seat to some of the internet’s most brutal comedy. He didn’t just leave the Celtics. He left into a wave of Twitter replies that were, let’s say, heavy on the sarcasm and light on the sentiment.
The Celtics posted a goodbye graphic for Vucevic after he signed a one-year, $3.9 million deal with the Orlando Magic. It was a standard thank-you post. The kind teams put up for guys who were there for a cup of coffee. But the replies turned it into something else entirely.
“Thank you for posting this but all it did is set me up for the lovely replies,” Vucevic wrote on X. He wasn’t wrong.
Fans did not hold back. One called him a guy who made them question their love for the game. Another said he didn’t deserve the post at all. There was a reference to tainting the number 4 jersey and something about a bad creation brought to you by Brad Stevens. The tone was basically: thanks for nothing, here’s your bags.
To be fair, Vucevic’s time in Boston was short and not exactly memorable. He got traded from the Chicago Bulls right before the February deadline and played just 16 games in green. He averaged 9.7 points and 6.6 rebounds. Solid numbers for a bench big but not the kind of stuff that builds a legacy.
Now he’s heading back to Orlando. That’s where he became a two-time All-Star and made his name. The Magic fans will probably be a little kinder than the Celtics faithful were on social media. Maybe a lot kinder.
The whole thing is funny if you step back. A guy gets a farewell post, sees it go sideways, and just shrugs on Twitter. It’s not like he’s sweating it. He’s 35. He’s got a new deal. He’s going back to a place where people actually cheered for him.
But for one afternoon, Vucevic got to watch the internet do what it does best. And he had the good sense to laugh about it.
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