Magic forward Paolo Banchero is expected to return form injury on Friday.
The Magic are getting Paolo Banchero back in the fold Friday against the Bucks (7 ET, League Pass) after the 22-year-old was sidelined with an oblique injury. This is something Orlando desperately needs, as the team is already without several key contributors due to injuries – Franz Wagner (oblique), Moritz Wagner (knee) and Jalen Suggs (back), just to name a few.
Paolo Banchero will play tonight vs. Milwaukee. pic.twitter.com/nG0zFpotU5
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) January 10, 2025
With Banchero back, Orlando has their best player ready to lead the team’s charge for another playoff appearance. Entering Friday’s slate, the Magic sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 22-17 record, and given all the injury issues they’ve gone through, this is a remarkable achievement for Jamahl Mosley’s team. No injury has been bigger and tougher to overcome than Banchero’s, though.
Banchero sustained the injury in Orlando’s fifth game of the season, and even though a five-game sample is not enough to draw any conclusions, the first overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft was having an excellent start to the season. During that early stage of the campaign, Banchero averaged 29.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists across 36.4 minutes per game, with a career-high 50-point performance against the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 28 being the most noteworthy outing.
Banchero expressed joy when asked about his potential return to the hardwood this week when talking to reporters during Thursday’s shootaround before being ruled out to face the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first leg of a back-to-back set.
“It’s amazing, really,” Banchero told reporters at shootaround on Thursday. “Thinking back to when I first went down, it was just those four games, and then after that, they were rolling. Franz was carrying [the team] and then he went down. I think that was the true test, just for our team, our two main guys being out. And guys stepped up even more. It’s really encouraging for guys who are out, seeing their teammates step up, get wins, still play the right way, and just uphold that standard that we set at the start of the season. It’s really encouraging, and it just makes you excited for when we get back to full strength.”
Having Banchero back in the mix gives the Magic offense a whole new set of weapons. And if he’s able to return to the form he evidenced in the early stages of the 2024-25 campaign, then he should be able to keep the Magic as one of the best teams in the East as the regular season rapidly approaches its mid-point.
If Banchero, who is listed as questionable for Friday, is unable to give it a go tonight, a return is still imminent and he should give a needed dose of star power to a Magic lineup that has been dealt a tough hand on the injury front thus far.
