{"id":152435,"date":"2025-07-27T17:29:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T21:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=152435"},"modified":"2025-07-27T17:29:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T21:29:30","slug":"magic-paolo-banchero-defended-by-zach-lowe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/27\/magic-paolo-banchero-defended-by-zach-lowe\/","title":{"rendered":"Paolo Banchero’s Percieved Underrated Status Could Benefit Magic This Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orlando Magic<\/a> have a scoring problem: they can’t score. The lack of points was especially glaring last season, despite Orlando’s playoff berth after advancing out of the play-in. To start the season, the Magic were one of the top teams in the conference before injuries began to take their toll. Orlando was good enough to win games, but as the season waned, their scoring fell off. It eventually aided in their ultimate doom in round one of the playoffs. All of that said, however, while the Magic have a scoring problem, a <\/span>Paolo Banchero<\/span><\/a>\u00a0problem, they do not. While the budding superstar <\/span>is largely underrated<\/span> by many, NBA expert Zach Lowe has a very different opinion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paolo Banchero’s Percieved Underrated Status Could Benefit Magic This Season<\/h2>\n

Paulo Banchero is the right kind of magic for the Orlando Magic this season<\/h3>\n

Before Banchero’s untimely injury last season, Orlando was cruising. They were off to one of their best season starts in a long time. Since Banchero’s draft, the Magic have continued to improve as a team, and they are now considered consistent playoff contenders. With the brutal injuries to <\/span>Jayson Tatum<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Tyrese Haliburton<\/span><\/a>, the East is more wide open than ever. Subsequently, Orlando’s window is also wider than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, despite just how good Banchero is, and scoring problems aside, how good the Magic are, Banchero isn’t held with as high regard as some other young rising super stars on his level. With two consecutive playoff appearances in a row with Banchero as the lead, Orlando is a threat in their conference. While their roster is solid (especially since trading for\u00a0<\/span>Desmond Bane<\/span><\/a>), Banchero is entering a phase in his career where he can shut the mouths of his depreciators. He’ll be the main reason why Orlando will have a successful upcoming season. He may also prove why he’s everything but underrated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Zach Lowe gives Banchero an enthusiastic stamp of approval<\/h3>\n

Lowe, the former ESPN voice and respected NBA mind, isn’t having any of the Banchero disrespect. The pressure may be on for Banchero to have a solid season and lead Orlando on a deep playoff run. But Lowe is on the other side of the “underrated” discussion. <\/span>Speaking on his podcast,\u00a0<\/span><\/a>The Zach Lowe Show\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/em>[32:00 mark]<\/span><\/a>, Lowe isn’t convinced Banchero is as inefficient as many claim him to be; instead, Lowe claims Banchero is “awesome.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"
Apr 1, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) shoots in between San Antonio Spurs forward Sandro Mamukelashvili (54) and guard Devin Vassell (24). Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHeard a lot say Paolo is inefficient, he shoots a lot of mid-range jumpers, he\u2019s not a #1 guy, how are you paying him like a number one guy? Look, I don\u2019t know what you all are seeing, but this dude is f*****g awesome,\u201d <\/em>Lowe said. \u201cI am more than OK paying him a max. I don\u2019t know if he is going to be a first-team All-NBA player at any point. But I would actually probably lean towards there\u2019s a season where he cracks it. But I watched this dude in the playoffs against elite defenses with nothing around him \u2014 no shooting, no help, almost nothing reliable.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The window is open for 2025-26<\/h3>\n

Lowe would continue to point out Banchero’s strengths in his game and that with more talent around him, his game will only intensify. Well, Orlando’s talent just increased with Bane’s addition, and Orlando already has some strong talent before Bane. This could be the season that sees Banchero soar higher than he ever has. As for the Magic, they are in a good position to do the same with the Boston Celtics<\/a> and Indiana Pacers taking a step back. Additionally, who knows where the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> will be situated come the postseason.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Orlando Magic have a scoring problem: they can’t score. The lack of points was especially glaring last season, despite Orlando’s playoff berth after advancing out of the play-in. To start the season, the Magic were one of the top teams in the conference before injuries began to take their toll. Orlando was good enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":152451,"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":[3,1608,62,17],"tags":[3127,798,3823,2607],"class_list":["post-152435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-basketball","category-nba","category-magic","tag-desmond-bane","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-paolo-banchero","tag-tyrese-haliburton"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152435","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\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152435"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152457,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152435\/revisions\/152457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}