On Monday, Orlando Magic star Paolo Banchero signed a max rookie extension with the franchise that may maintain with the franchise long run, as reported by Shams Charania of ESPN. Whereas this kind of transfer has appeared inevitable for fairly a while now, it was nonetheless a testomony to only how shortly Banchero has climbed the NBA ranks throughout his time with the Magic.
Lately, former NBA All-Star level guard Jeff Teague took to his personal Membership 520 podcast with a sizzling take about Banchero because it pertains to his younger star counterpart, San Antonio Spurs heart Victor Wembanyama.
“The explanation I say (Banchero’s) higher than Wemby is as a result of Wemby ain’t actually executed nothing. We similar to Wemby as a result of he’s like a freak,” mentioned Teague.
Teague additionally talked about that “(Wembanyama is) an exceptional participant however I’m going to go along with what I see.”
Within the quote, Teague was referencing Wembanyama’s damage historical past, which exterior of final 12 months’s blood clot which sidelined him in February, hasn’t actually been a lot of a priority.
In the meantime, Banchero hasn’t essentially been an image of well being up to now throughout his time with the league. The truth is, final 12 months, the Magic have been arguably hit more durable by the damage bug than some other crew within the league, with Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Jalen Suggs all lacking important time, amongst others.
An enormous season for the Magic
The Magic enter the 2025-26 season with the best expectations they’ve had for the reason that days that Dwight Howard wore the blue and white within the late 2000s.
The Japanese Convention panorama would look like large open on the present juncture with a number of gamers, together with Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, out possible for all of subsequent season as a result of damage.
The Magic pushed all of their chips to the middle of the desk by going out and buying Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane earlier this summer season, which ought to assist alleviate the crew’s one evident weak spot: their perimeter taking pictures, which was worst within the league in 2024-25.
It stays to be seen if Bane alone can treatment this concern, but when he does, be careful for the Magic.