“Rookie of the Year, All-Star, make the playoffs, and most importantly win games!”: Paolo Banchero reveals his goals with the Orlando Magic, calls his ceiling “limitless”

Being the number 1 pick of the 2022 draft, Paolo Banchero has a lot of surreal expectations to meet.

For the longest time, it was Jabari Smith Jr. who was projected to get picked up by the Orlando Magic with their first pick. However, the Magic front office decided to select Paolo Banchero instead, making him the 5^th player in Duke history to get drafted #1.

Standing at 6-foot-10, with a 7-foot-1 wingspan, and weighing roughly about 250 pounds, the former Devil is one of the most NBA-ready athletes in this talented 2022 Draft class.

In his lone season playing with Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Banchero averaged a staggering 17.2 points (1^st among true freshmen), 7.8 rebounds (4^th in ACC), 3.2 assists, 1.1 steals, and a little less than 1 block per game. The 19-year-old managed to take home the ACC Rookie of the Year honors, NCAA West Region Most Outstanding Player, got selected to First-team All-ACC, and 2022 consensus second-team All-American, among a whole bunch of other accolades.

Also Read: Will Paolo Banchero end up at the Los Angeles Lakers? History says so!

“There’s going to be high expectations that I’m going to hold for myself”: Paolo Banchero

With the virtue of being the #1 pick, comes the immense pressure of performing. And Paolo is aware of the expectations set for him. However, according to him, this feeling is nothing new. In an interview with ESPN, the newest Magic forward said:

“There’s going to be high expectations for myself that I’m going to hold myself to and that everyone is going to hold myself to,” Banchero said. “But I feel like it’s nothing I’m not used to. It was the same thing for me heading into college, throughout high school, a lot of expectations. It’s been like that my whole life.”

With the addition of Banchero, the Magic have a solid young core starring Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr, Jonathan Isaac, and several others. The front office will hope that Paolo is the missing piece that helps turn the organization’s fate around.

As for Paolo, the goals he has set for himself should make all Magic fans happy. Calling his own ceiling “limitless”, Paolo further revealed his ambitions:

“My ceiling is as high as I want it to be,” he said. “Which is limitless. I set a lot of goals for myself every stage of my career. So I want to do all that — NBA Rookie of the Year, be an All-Star, make the playoffs, everything a basketball player on this stage would want to do, I want to do, plus more. But at first, I want to win. That’s the most important thing.”

Certainly, Orlando fans will enjoy the versatility Banchero will bring to the floor. Hopefully, the Magic will be a playoffs-contending team this year.

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