The future of the orange ball looks bright, with certain nuggets emerging as true prodigies. In the Eastern Conference, a young player was the subject of a particularly flattering comparison, his coach seeing in him the fusion of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.

Discreetly and like the Cavaliers, the Magic have established themselves as a stronghold in the East this season. After years of squatting in the soft underbelly or even the underbelly of the NBA, the Florida squad is now on the right track to return to the playoffs with a record of 37 victories for 27 defeats (5th). A fairly impressive turnaround and one to which Paolo Banchero is anything but a stranger.

If his duo with the German Franz Wagner is a hit, it is the American interior who is the spearhead of this team. Rookie of the Year last season, he became an All-Star in 2023-24 and it was well deserved. His room for improvement still looks significant, even if his coach Jamahl Mosley already sees in him the combination of two of the greatest attackers in the history of the league:

Paolo Banchero praised at Magic

The thing about Paolo is that he’s so dynamic. Matching him with one player is difficult to do, because he can pass like LeBron , the scoring ability of a Melo, the basketball IQ that he has is just incredible.

 

 

It’s hard to pay a bigger compliment for such a young player, with Banchero still only 21 years old. As a reminder, the Seattle native is currently averaging nearly 23 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, all at 47% shooting including 36.6% from distance. So there is still some waste but the former first draft pick still has time to erase it in Orlando. The local fans are in any case delighted to count on him.

Orlando has a damn good player for years to come

We need to talk more about the GOAT

While the Magic already have the third best defense in the league, they are still only 26th in offensive rating. but with a player like Paolo Banchero at his head, that could quickly change and especially if he manages to justify the particularly laudatory words of Jamahl Mosley. Easier said than done, that said.