It’s not good but it could have been worse
Former Blue Devil Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic had a tough break after Banchero suffered an oblique injury that will sideline him for an indefinite period, certainly several weeks.
It’s a tough break for Banchero. He’s already established himself as one of the best young players in the NBA and was on the cusp of establishing himself as an absolutely elite player. When he went down, Banchero was averaging 29 ppg, 8.8 boards, 5.5 apg and had really improved an early weakness with his shooting percentage up to 49 percent (three point shooting has gone up every year and is now at 34.4 percent).
Worse, fellow former Blue Devil Wendell Carter is out too, but his situation isn’t as bad: he’s dealing with tendinitis and should be back soon.
As the team is saying, it’s a chance for other guys to step up and establish themselves.
You hope that it’s not a long time before Banchero is back, but if Orlando takes a big hit then there’s a chance they could unexpectedly end up back in the lottery and that would put them in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes.
