Paolo Banchero joins Shaq, Tracy McGrady, Dwight Howard in Magic history
03/26/2025 12:57 AM
On Tuesday night, Paolo Banchero joined Orlando Magic nobility in franchise lore. His 30 points in four straight games placed him alongside exceptional Magic legends Shaquille O’Neal, Tracy McGrady, and new Orlando Hall of Famer Dwight Howard.
Since Orlando’s loss to the Houston Rockets on March 19 to their win over the Charlotte Hornets, Banchero has tallied at least 30 points in every game he’s suited up for. On an assortment of drives, pull-ups, and long-distance calls from 3-point range, Banchero is making 30-point nights look routine. It’s an impressive feat for the fulcrum of the league’s lowest-scoring offense. If he continues blowing past opposing teams’ perimeter security, detonating above the rim, or tickling the nylon from a different area code, Banchero could tread into household name territory.
Casual fans treasure a prodigious scorer. Banchero working his way onto an exclusive list consisting of first-name basis Hall of Fame legends bodes well for him. However, Banchero has a long way to go to become the Magic’s record holder for consecutive games with 30 or more. He’s still 10 games short of McGrady’s 14 consecutive games between March 5, 2003, and April 1.
Paolo Banchero is on a tear for the Magic
Banchero’s four-game streak is just the latest artificial milestone that functions as a benchmark of his development. As a rookie, he joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Luka Doncic, Larry Bird, Sidney Wick, Elgin Baylor, Michael Jordan, and Blake Griffin as the only players to average at least 20, 6.9 boards, and 3.5 assists. He also became the only teenager in NBA history to log 30-plus points and 25 boards in a game. Early in the year, Banchero compared his first 50-point game to living out an NBA2K simulation. It was an apt comparison for a swingman with a 6-10, 250-pound frame who moves like a Create-A-Player.
Banchero missed 34 games this season after recovering from an oblique tear suffered early in October. Since the All-Star break, Banchero has grown more efficient at putting defenders in a blender. In March, Banchero has averaged 30 points a night, shot nearly 50 percent from the field, and drilled 40 percent of his triples.
Banchero putting it together like this is a testament to the 22-year-old’s precocious game. The former Rookie of the Year has been voted to consecutive All-Star teams and now lives in the Magic’s basketball firmament. As Banchero establishes himself as one of the league’s preeminent scorers, he changes the floor for the ensemble around him and raises the floor on the Magic’s expectations.
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