Orlando Magic Star Paolo Banchero Faces Championship or Bust Future

Remember when you were a younger sports fan and couldn’t even imagine the possibility your favorite team could lose? You would rattle off the best players on your roster, berate whoever you were debating over how in the world they could conceive their squad getting the better of yours, and then pull a Vince Carter “it’s over” gesture. That may be how some Orlando Magic fans feel at the moment.

Hopefully it’s just the kids, but the younger Magic faithful should be insufferable for the first few weeks of school until the regular season starts. 

C’mon, how are you stopping Paolo Banchero? Pencil him in for 50 bazillion points over the next five years. Five championships, too.

Banchero was officially locked into a contract that could reach $287.1 million in value and should keep him in Central Florida through 2030. He can exercise a player option for ‘30-’31, and the Magic have locked in key cogs around him in Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and newly acquired wing Desmond Bane. 

All of those guys could be Eastern Conference All-Stars over the next few seasons, but make no mistake, the Magic are the 22-year-old Banchero’s team. While this offseason has already featured ring culture debate as the subject of how players without championships being viewed as failures has resurfaced, there's no one who would question that the NBA remains a superstar-driven league.

OKC Thunder big man Chet Holmgren just won a title as an invaluable starter, but you wouldn’t find anyone with two brain cells who would choose him over Banchero in a 2022 Draft do-over.  The Orlando Magic's franchise player is on the cusp of becoming a household name if he can start delivering postseason success.

Banchero hasn’t won a playoff series, but he’s earned the respect of anyone who has ever stepped on a basketball court to compete against him. He’s in a club with LeBron James and Luka Doncic as the only players in league history to rack up over 4,000 points, 1,300 rebounds and 900 assists before their 23rd birthday.

Only Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway have scored more points through their first three seasons in Orlando. Only Tracy McGrady has also delivered three or more 30-plus scoring games in a playoff series. Those names are Magic royalty that Banchero is lumped in with. 

Up next is accomplishing what none of those guys did. Bring Orlando its first NBA championship. That’s the mandate. That’s the expectation. 

Former No. 1 pick Shaquille O’Neal won a ring, but that came in L.A. Dwight Howard reached the NBA Finals with the Magic, but was denied by the Lakers before finally winning a championship with them in 2020. Since the turn of the century, LeBron, Andrew Bogut, Anthony Davis and Andrew Wiggins are No. 1 picks who have won titles. Only James managed to do it with the team that drafted him, but he did so after leaving to win his first few championships with the Miami Heat.

Banchero is striving to be the first No. 1 pick to lead his team to a championship prior to ever wearing another uniform since Spurs legend Tim Duncan managed the feat. Ideally, even though he’s a much different type of power forward, Orlando is hoping Duncan is who Banchero’s career ends up mirroring. These aren't unrealistic expectations, and the deal he just signed means they're also not unfair.

The Magic may still be one of the league’s newer franchises, but they’re closing in on four decades of existence without a single championship. Shaq and Penny led Orlando to one Eastern Conference title in ‘95 and Howard did the same in ‘09. 

Now it’s Banchero’s turn. He’s physically gifted enough to emerge as one of the NBA’s best players the way those guys managed to become when at their best.

Between now and the end of the decade, Banchero will be tasked with great responsibility. Everyone thinks the world of Wagner’s skills, and ideally, he’ll be the Scottie Pippen to Banchero’s Michael Jordan. Suggs and Bane have the potential to form a terrific two-way backcourt. Orlando president Jeff Weltman has done a great job locking up his core and assembling a strong supporting cast.

Orlando is loaded. Its future looks bright. Over the next couple of years, given who is locked in on the roster, they’re going to be in the championship chase.

Ultimately, it’s Banchero who must lead. Congratulations on the new deal and the well-earned generational wealth. This massive contract adds to his burden of expectation, as does the distinction of being a No. 1 pick. In a wide-open Eastern Conference, the clock has already started ticking.

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