{"id":104430,"date":"2024-10-31T23:10:35","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T03:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=104430"},"modified":"2024-10-31T23:10:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T03:10:35","slug":"magic-who-steps-up-after-paolo-banchero-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/31\/magic-who-steps-up-after-paolo-banchero-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Steps Up For Magic After Paolo Banchero Injury?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Orlando Magic suffered a major blow on Thursday, as the blossoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/banchpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paolo Banchero<\/a> \u201chas been diagnosed with a torn right oblique and is sidelined indefinitely,\u201d per ESPN insider Shams Charania. Banchero, the top pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, \u201cwill be re-evaluated in four-to-six weeks and (his) return to play will be based on how he responds to treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Just In: Orlando Magic superstar Paolo Banchero has been diagnosed with a torn right oblique and is sidelined indefinitely, sources tell ESPN. He will be re-evaluated in four-to-six weeks and return to play will be based on how he responds to treatment. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hq4qh7IONa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/hq4qh7IONa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1852165370196463794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Banchero is currently averaging 29.0 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 0.8 blocks per game on 49.5 percent shooting from the field. His scoring average is the highest for a player that\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/StatMamba\/status\/1851813878981660962\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">21 years old or younger<\/a> since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> in 2005. In a win over the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 28, the Seattle native recorded an eye-popping stat line of 50 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists, two blocks, and one steal in 40 minutes.<\/p>\n<h2>Who Steps Up For Magic After Paolo Banchero Injury?<\/h2>\n<p>With Banchero out for at least the next month, who will step up?<\/p>\n<h3>Franz Wagner<\/h3>\n<p>2021 No. 8 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wagnefr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Franz Wagner<\/a>\u00a0has been usurped by Banchero as the face of the franchise. However, that\u2019s not because Wagner doesn\u2019t have the goods \u2014 Banchero is <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/24\/paolo-banchero-has-never-before-seen-stat-line-against-heat\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">just that good<\/a>. Regardless of the team\u2019s pecking order when healthy, Wagner has demonstrated the ability to take over games with his scoring while impacting the game in several other ways.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Franz Wagner BEST HIGHLIGHTS Of 23-24 \ud83d\udd25\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EtIzHWNgxq4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This season, Wagner is averaging 17.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game in a career-low 26.0 minutes per game. He\u2019s straightened out his shooting, knocking down a career-high 39.3 percent of his threes. His numbers pale in comparison to Banchero\u2019s from a productivity standpoint. Nonetheless, he still has the Magic\u2019s second-highest scoring average this season.<\/p>\n<p>He also has a similar skillset to Banchero in that he\u2019s a long-limbed three-level scorer with playmaking instincts.<\/p>\n<h3>Anthony Black<\/h3>\n<p>2023 No. 6 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/blackan01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Black<\/a>\u00a0could start in Banchero\u2019s place. Though more of a guard than a wing, Black is a physical player at 6-foot-7 and 198 pounds. So, defensively, Black should be able to handle tough assignments against heftier players.<\/p>\n<p>Offensively, Black\u2019s court vision and feel can help him be a connector in the first unit. He isn\u2019t nearly as skilled or confident as Banchero, hence his scoring average this season (8.4 points per game). However, when he\u2019s aggressive, he can put a dent in the scoreboard.<\/p>\n<h3>Jalen Suggs<\/h3>\n<p>2021 No. 5 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/suggsja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Suggs<\/a> is another player to watch. He\u2019s already averaging a career-high 16.8 points per game, but the Magic may need him to give a little more. Though he generally gets his buckets in a different way than Banchero, he also knows how to put pressure on the interior.<\/p>\n<p>After signing a rich contract extension with Orlando this season, there\u2019s a natural pressure for him to perform at a higher level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Orlando Magic suffered a major blow on Thursday, as the blossoming Paolo Banchero \u201chas been diagnosed with a torn right oblique and is sidelined indefinitely,\u201d per ESPN insider Shams Charania. Banchero, the top pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, \u201cwill be re-evaluated in four-to-six weeks and (his) return to play will be based on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":104455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1608,62,3],"tags":[4755,4127,3259,4745,3823],"class_list":["post-104430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magic","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-anthony-black","tag-franz-wagner","tag-jalen-suggs","tag-nba-injuries","tag-paolo-banchero"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}