{"id":138106,"date":"2025-05-06T14:10:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T18:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=138106"},"modified":"2025-05-06T14:10:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T18:10:24","slug":"magic-paolo-banchero-potential-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/05\/06\/magic-paolo-banchero-potential-contract-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic\u2019s Paolo Banchero Candid About Potential Contract Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

This offseason, everyone is wondering when or whether All-NBA point guard Luka Doncic<\/a> will sign a contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers after being pegged as the next face of the franchise. 2,508 miles away, there\u2019s another young star who\u2019ll be entering extension talks, one who\u2019s already the face of his franchise: Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Banchero, the first overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, earned his first All-Star selection in 2023-24. He started his 2024-25 campaign off so well that he seemed like a shoo-in<\/a> for his second straight selection. It was just his luck that a torn oblique<\/a> would sideline him after just his fifth game of the season. Two months later and Banchero was back on the court but had lost momentum<\/a> in the All-Star race.<\/p>\n

However, he fought and fought.<\/p>\n

Magic\u2019s Paolo Banchero Candid About Potential Contract Extension<\/h2>\n

Banchero fought to get back healthy. He fought for wins. He fought to get the Magic back in the playoffs, which they were able to accomplish<\/a> for the second straight season.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Apr 20, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) lays the ball in the basket past Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now on a path to be one of the faces of the league, not just the Magic, Banchero is seen as a cornerstone player that\u2019s worthy of a maximum contract extension.<\/p>\n

For Banchero, the magic number is $247 million. The 22-year-old shared his thoughts<\/a> on potentially inking such a lucrative deal with ESPN Andscape\u2019s Marc J. Spears.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s A Blessing\u201d<\/h3>\n

\u201cI was in over my head when I signed my rookie [contract],\u201d Banchero exclaims. \u201cSo, I really haven\u2019t thought much about that…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t really said that number ($247 million) or I didn\u2019t even know what the number was or what it will be. But it\u2019s a blessing and hopefully all that stuff works out if I\u2019m able to sign with the team and lock in my future.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s every young player\u2019s goal coming into this league,\u201d he adds, \u201cestablishing yourself early, get a second contract. So, when time comes, I\u2019m sure all that stuff we can figure out. I don\u2019t know. They say more money, more problems. So, we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The son of a former professional basketball player (Rhonda Smith-Banchero), Banchero probably isn\u2019t unfamiliar with the concept of financial stability or success. It helps that his father, Mario, is a resource he can lean on when it comes to managing his assets. Still, the Seattle native is in new territory.<\/p>\n

A place where he\u2019s thankful to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t grow up dirt [poor] or anything like that, but I definitely didn\u2019t grow up rich,\u201d Banchero reveals.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, being able to be in this position, for not only me but my family, I thank God every day, honestly. It\u2019s really not just because of me. I thank God for allowing me to bless the people who work so hard to provide for me my whole life. Whether it\u2019s my mom and dad, my grandma, grandpa, my aunties, uncles. I just really had a village that helped raise me, helped take care of me coming up.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201c\u2026It\u2019s just awesome knowing that they don\u2019t have to worry about anything,\u201d Banchero says of his loved ones. \u201cI can take care of them now… They made sure I was always good and now I can kind of reverse it make sure that they\u2019re always good. It\u2019s a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A budding superstar, Banchero\u2019s best has yet to come. With his character, even those who aren\u2019t Magic fans have to root for him.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This offseason, everyone is wondering when or whether All-NBA point guard Luka Doncic will sign a contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers after being pegged as the next face of the franchise. 2,508 miles away, there\u2019s another young star who\u2019ll be entering extension talks, one who\u2019s already the face of his franchise: Orlando Magic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":138154,"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":[17,1608,26,62,3],"tags":[1133,4975,4557,3823],"class_list":["post-138106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magic","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba-contracts","tag-nba-offseason","tag-paolo-banchero"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138106","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=138106"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138159,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138106\/revisions\/138159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}