Paolo Banchero is treating this Orlando Magic season like a reset button.
That’s the mood around the team, too. Same core, new coach, same pressure.
Orlando is bringing back much of its roster, but Sean Sweeney is now running the bench, and the message is clear: whatever happened last year is done. The Magic want a fresh start, and they want it badly.
Banchero said as much last weekend on The Stephen A. Smith Show during Fanatics Fest.
“I'm starting back from zero, I feel like,” Banchero said. “We have to take the next step.
I have to take the next step. I'm putting that pressure on myself.
Not in a bad way, but a good way.”
That’s the burden that comes with being the face of the team. Orlando’s frustrations from last season still hang over everything, and the organization’s financial situation only sharpens the focus on its stars. Fair or not, Banchero is the one carrying the spotlight.
And he knows it.
“Your first couple of years, you are just happy to be here and trying to figure it all out,” Banchero said on The Stephen A. Smith Show.
“After losing three years in a row in the first round, that sense of urgency is definitely there for me. Just to work as hard as I can and keep my mind on the main goal, which is obviously to win in the postseason and get past the first round and get deep in the playoffs.
That's been on my mind all summer.”
The numbers explain why the conversation around him has gotten louder. Banchero averaged 22.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game in the regular season. In the seven-game playoff series, he jumped to 26.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game, including 45 points in Game 5 and 38 in Game 7.
Even with that production, the questions haven’t gone away. Efficiency remains part of the debate around him, despite career-best field goal percentage and career-best true shooting percentage. The advanced-stat crowd has continued to poke at whether his numbers translate the way they should.
The team’s record has only fed that discussion. Orlando went 26-25 in the 51 games Franz Wagner missed while Banchero carried the load. The Magic also still have not posted a positive net rating with Banchero on the floor, sitting at minus-0.6 points per 100 possessions.
There’s also the memory of how the season ended. The Magic have been sitting with that playoff loss for nearly three months, and Banchero said the sting has only built more urgency.
He has dealt with injuries over the last two years, missing time in 2025 with a torn oblique after a strong start and then suffering a strained groin in November in 2026 that cost him a month. It felt like he was chasing health all season.
Now the expectation is that he arrives at camp in “elite shape.”
Orlando’s roster questions are just as real. The only addition mentioned was Nikola Vucevic, signed as a backup center on a minimum contract. Otherwise, this is the same group that won 45 games last year, a total Banchero himself called disappointing.
Still, he believes the group has more in it.
“I think we do have enough,” Banchero said on The Stephen A. Smith Show.
“We won 45 games this year, and if you ask anybody in the building, we did not put our best foot forward as a team really from the start of the season to the end. We were able to win 45 games, get in the Playoffs, and be up 3-1 with a chance to advance, and we didn't make it happen.
I think everybody is left with that sour taste. I think when we all look each other in the eyes, we know that our team is enough.”
The challenge now is bigger than just internal belief. The Eastern Conference has gotten tougher, expectations around Orlando have cooled, and the pressure is building as the team approaches the second apron. The Magic can’t afford to stand still.
Banchero’s view is simple: the next step has to come now.
“I think we're going to take that next step this year,” Banchero said on The Stephen A. Smith Show.
“We're going to get out of the first round and make a run in the Playoffs. We've got to be top four.
We've got to get home court and give ourselves a chance to rest and get ready for the Playoffs.”
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