Paolo Banchero landed at No. 4 on FanSided's 25-under-25 NBA Player Rankings this season, ranking the best young players in the NBA. Check out the rest of the list here.
It's extremely difficult to win in the NBA, even more so when your best players are all young. Veteran leadership matters. Winning is a learned skill, and so it's no surprise that after a 15-7 start last season, the Orlando Magic, who are led by the under-25 trio of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs, struggled the rest of the way and finished with a .500 record at 41-41. A play-in win over the Atlanta Hawks got them the 7-seed, at which point they were on the wrong end of a gentlemen's sweep at the hands of the much more experienced Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
It's true that the Magic just didn't have the seasoning to make any real postseason noise, but the biggest culprit in what turned out to be a disappointing season was injuries. Orlando didn't just get hit by the injury bug, they stumbled into its nest and got eaten alive. Banchero and Wagner dealt with matching oblique injuries, while Suggs' list of maladies would make Nordberg from The Naked Gun wince, as he missed time with hamstring, ankle, wrist, back and quad ailments. In total, Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley could only pencil his three best guys into the lineup at the same time on six out of 82 occasions.
The Magic are expected to take a big leap forward this year for three reasons. Most obvious is the blockbuster trade that brought Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane aboard. Orlando paid a heavy price for the 27-year-old that will make it difficult to build further in the future, but for the here and now, it's hard to imagine a much better fit. As a team, the Magic couldn't throw the ball in the ocean last year, as they finished last in the league in 3-point percentage and 3-pointers made. In today's 3-happy era, that's not a stat a team can overcome, even one as talented defensively as they were. Bane will open up the floor and knock down shots.
The second key to Orlando's projected ascendance is health. Unless there's a team bonding event where every Magic player attempts to jump Epcot Center on a motorcycle, there's really no way they can have such bad injury luck again.
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Paolo Banchero could carry the Magic to contention
The third key is Banchero, who followed up an All-Star appearance in his sophomore season by raising his scoring average to 25.9 points in the 46 games he was healthy for last year. There's so much to love about the former No. 1 pick's game, from his underrated athleticism to his deadliness in the mid-range and his superb passing and ball-handling skills for a player of his size.
Every good NBA team needs an alpha dog, and though the Magic have an enviable starting lineup, this is clearly Banchero's team. It's not a stretch at all to say that he could be in line for his first All-NBA season and his first All-Star start.
When Banchero was taken first in the 2022 draft, it was the final statement in a fierce debate over who should be the No. 1 pick — him, Chet Holmgren or Jabari Smith Jr. Holmgren was an essential piece on the Thunder's title-winning juggernaut, while Smith hasn't totally popped yet in Houston. Magic fans still have to be thrilled with how Banchero has turned out, though. He received 98 of 100 first-place votes to run away with the Rookie of the Year, and he's added pieces to his game and gotten better each year since.
Along with Holmgren (No. 6) and Jalen Williams (No. 8), Banchero and Wagner (No. 10) are the only pair of teammates to both make the top 10 of Fansided's 25-under-25 list. They had little help against the defending champion Celtics in the playoffs, but neither one backed down, as they combined for 55.2 points per game in defeat. That experience will be invaluable going forward, and the addition of Bane and a healthy Suggs will considerably raise their ceiling. It all starts with Banchero, though. If he can stay on the court and continue his current learning curve, the days of the Magic being an easy out will be over.