The NBA Draft Lottery took place yesterday, with the Orlando Magic getting the Number 1 pick for the 2022 NBA Draft. This is the fourth time that the Magic will draft at the top, and they have done pretty well for themselves whenever they’ve been in this position. They drafted Shaquille O’Neal at #1 in 1992, followed by Chris Webber in 1993, whom they traded for Penny Hardaway, and lastly, in 2004, they drafted Dwight Howard.
Next in line could be Paolo Banchero, the 6’10 Power Forward from Duke. Also in the mix would be the likes of Chet Holmgren and Jabari Smith Jr, but Banchero is confident that he should be #1. He spoke about his NBA future before the lottery and Stephen A. Smith posed the question as to which NBA star his game mirrors the most:
“You know there’s a lot of guys, obviously there’s a couple that I really try to take things away from, that’s Lebron, Jayson Tatum, Giannis, Carmelo, just guys who got a similar physical build. But I also feel like I’m unique in my own ways and I feel like I take parts of all their games and try to put it into mine and add my own flavor to it.”
If Banchero emulates any of those guys in the NBA, then whoever drafts him is going to be thanking their lucky stars to have landed him. Banchero is obviously extremely talented and is coming off a college season where he led all true freshmen nationally in scoring by averaging 17.2 points per game. He was named ACC Rookie of the Year and will hope to have an immediate impact in the NBA.
The NBA Draft is still some ways away, so we’ll just have to wait and see how things pan out, but the Magic have a shot at landing a player who might finally help them return to relevancy for the first time since the days of Dwight Howard. For their sake, we hope they make the right decision.
