ORLANDO – Dressed comfortably in a T-shirt, practice shorts and flip flops with a scheduled massage minutes away, Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero was in a well-earned relaxed state as noon approached Wednesday during an off day at the team’s practice facility.
Just about 15 hours earlier, it was intense when Banchero and his Magic earned a second-straight trip to the postseason. The seventh-seeded Magic defeated the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks 120-95 in an NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game on Tuesday night at Kia Center. The reward for the Magic was not only a playoff berth, but a first-round matchup against the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics, beginning on the road Sunday.
“We dealt with a lot this year,” Banchero told Andscape. “I remember there was a stretch where we lost five home games straight. And that was just tough for the whole team. That I would say was one of the low points of the season. We lost to some teams that aren’t in the playoffs. So, it was just tough and that was when we had to make a decision about what we wanted to do about the season.
“Were we going to lay down and give in to the losing and frustration, or were we going turn it around? Guys locked in, especially at the end of the season, started getting [wins] on the road, just playing harder, playing more together. You see how we ended up earning the seventh-seed to play Boston. [I’m] Proud of this team for sure.”
During the 2024-25 NBA season, Banchero is sharing insight into his life with the Magic in his monthly diary on Andscape. Draymond Green, Vince Carter, Trae Young, CJ McCollum, Fred VanVleet, De’Aaron Fox, Cade Cunningham, James Wiseman, Josh Jackson and, most recently, Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal, have participated in diaries. Below is Banchero’s seventh diary of the season, with the latest taking place a day after the team’s play-in win.
The 2024 NBA All-Star overcame missing more than two months of the season due to an adductor injury to average career highs of 25.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in 46 regular-season games. The 6-foot-10, 250-pounder scored a career-high 50 points on Oct. 28 against Indiana. Banchero also became the first Magic player to average 25 points per game in a season since Tracy McGrady’s final season with the franchise in 2004.
The injury-riddled Magic finished the regular-season with a 41-41 record. Orlando’s dynamic duo of Banchero and Franz Wagner will face the biggest challenge of their young careers against Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the Celtics. Banchero talked exclusively in his Andscape diary about the Magic’s roller coaster season, defeating the Hawks, facing the Celtics, his friendship with Tatum, his love for playing in Boston’s TD Garden, the possibility of seeing his beloved Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park in Boston and much more.
Andscape
It was the first play-in game in Orlando. First play-in game for the team. So, it was just highly anticipated. A win-or-go-home type of game. And guys just came out locked in from the jump, especially on the defensive end. That kind of set the tone to control the game. We opened it up in the second half when guys got going. A lot of guys stepped up. It was great for confidence for our team to get in the playoffs.
I feel like we decided to come together and do whatever it took to win. After the All-Star break, we dropped some games early. But we kept our foot on the gas and played well towards the end of the season. Now we’re locked into the seventh-seed for back-to-back years in the playoffs. It’s something that everyone is happy about and grateful that we’re able to accomplish that this [season]. We are excited to line it up [with Boston]. We are familiar with them. Obviously, they’re the defending champs. So, it is going to be fun.
They’re in the Eastern Conference finals damn near every year. So, they’ve been at the top of the East. To be there you have to go ahead every day and get wins. We’ve had success against them in the regular season and throughout my time here, but playoffs is a different ballgame. They’re going to be ready. They are part of a championship team so they are not going to lay down. You have to match their level of intensity. You know the challenge they present. They got talent all over the floor. So, it’s going to take a special effort from us to beat them.
[Brown and Tatum], those two All-NBA, All-Star caliber guys. They’ve been there before in the playoffs and in the spotlight. Those guys are going to present a huge challenge. We know that coming in. But we also know about the other guys as well. They have [Kristaps] Porzingis, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Payton Pritchard off the bench. So, they have a really strong unit and those guys are ahead of things. We’re going to have to be ready to step up to the challenge. It’s going to be a fun series in Boston.
This thing starts and ends with me, my intensity and how locked in I am on both sides of the ball. It’s going to be huge. So, for me, it’s about coming in, understanding and knowing that it’s not going to be an easy series. I am going to perform my best effort each and every possession. I’m really excited for the opportunity. The greater the challenge, the more I step up. So, I’m just really excited to get it going.
I don’t want give away too much about what I’m trying to key in on. But I definitely think that they’re a very good team. They won the championship last year, have been in the conference finals, been to the Finals before that. They know what it takes to get there. They’re going to do a lot of different stuff. But the stuff they’re doing in Game 1 isn’t going to be the same stuff they’re going to do in Game 4, Game 5. You just know that coming in and it presents a really big challenge for me and the rest of the team. So, I’m excited.
AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski
I faced a lot of adversity this season, more than I expected coming in. I was expecting to have a huge third year. I had worked so hard in the offseason in the summertime. I was sure I was going to come into my third year doing everything I wanted to do. So, getting hurt, it did set me back. It was a major challenge for me just dealing with that mentally, physically. Part of the reason I felt like I was going to have a great third year is because I was in such great shape physically. So, me having to sit down for two and a half months, it was tough. But I had a great support system that helped me get through it. And when I came back, I knew there was going to be a time of adjustment, getting back in shape, just getting my feet underneath me.
But I also knew how much work I put in, and I knew that we still [had] a chance as a team to get to the playoffs and still do things this year. Even though I could accomplish the individual goals, I knew that we still have goals around here that we want to do in the playoffs. I just made a promise to myself that I was going to go as hard as I could for the rest of the season. Putting up career highs [in points and rebounds] is a reflection of that. I just made the most of what God decided to give me [this season]. We had other players [step up] when I missed a bunch of games. But I still always trusted his plan for sure.
Locking in on all the details has helped me every year along with coming in adding a good piece of knowledge and adding something else to my game to counter what the defense is doing. I just take my development pretty personal and try to always be better.
TD Garden is a top-three arena for me. It could be my favorite for sure. I would only put up maybe two, maybe one other arena up against the TD Garden. [I] Just love the atmosphere. It’s a great place to play. It’s the loudness for sure. The fans, they’re into the game. And in the end, they’re just talking to you. They’re loud and screaming. When those guys get hot, it feels heavier than it is because of how the fans are. So, it’s a great place to play and they got a lot of history in Boston. The fans know what they’re watching. You see so many great teams or great players.
Andscape
It’s just consistent. You always got a fan talking to you, yelling at you and whatnot. You know that going in. I don’t really try to get into 1-on-1s [trash talking] with fans too much, even though it did happen in Cleveland last year. Cleveland has another great fan base as well, but none [trash talking with fans] in Boston so far.
You definitely appreciate what you see. Larry Bird’s jersey is up there [in the rafters]. I remember watching [fellow Seattle native] Isaiah Thomas going crazy for the Celtics and just being a fan of him. I just wanted him to win because of how he was playing. In his prime, IT was inspirational to everybody. It was Paul Pierce and KG [Kevin Garnett] before that. And then, obviously, Tatum and Brown have accomplished a lot for the Celtics. You are appreciative that you can go up against that and try to write your own history.
Andscape
Coach [Jon] Scheyer at Duke introduced me to Jayson when I was committed to go to Duke after high school. From that point on, it’s just been a good relationship. He’s always is open to having me pull up to his camp and just come around and stuff like that. He’s always willing to give me advice and just be a solid guy to go to. So, that’s part of the Duke brotherhood and I’m definitely appreciative of what he has done and how he has helped.
We haven’t communicated much since [the Magic] got to the playoffs. No, definitely not. We don’t talk much during the season. I wear his [Jordan Brand] shoes and stuff and he’s shows love. We go back and forth quickly. But most of the time, we’re just locked in.
Best way to describe playoff basketball? I would say it is different. It don’t feel like the regular season at all. Different atmosphere. Fans are louder. Referees are calling the game differently. It’s way more intense. A little slower, too. So, it’s just a different style of basketball. Everyone’s more locked in. Every coach, every player. But it’s the best type of basketball to play, in my opinion. It’s exciting.
How can the Magic win this series? We just have to come out fearless from the jump. Going on the road, the first two games, we have to set the tone of how we’re going to play for the rest of series. It’s just going to be a full-team effort. It starts with me, obviously. It starts with Franz. We’re going to need everybody. Obviously, we’re going to have to do what we do. We’re going to have to score and just get after it on both ends.
My focus is going to be whatever my assignment is and then obviously playing within the team scheme on defense. That is something we’re great at. And our coaches do a great job of getting us ready on that side of ball. I’m sure our defense is going to be ready.
I’ve only been in the playoffs one other time. I definitely will just stay in for the most part in Boston. Maybe if my parents are out there, I will go to dinner or something. My brother might be out there actually for his spring break. I’m chilling for the most part on the road.
The Seattle Mariners are playing at Fenway? I might go to that then. I’m think about that for sure. I’ve never been to Fenway Park. I do know it’s a historical park. You are talking about maybe seeing the Mariners on the road, how cool that would be on an off night? To go watch the Mariners on the road at Fenway Park would be super-dope.