{"id":129704,"date":"2025-09-08T21:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T21:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/129704\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T21:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T21:47:07","slug":"how-paolo-bancheros-stats-stopped-being-fluff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/129704\/","title":{"rendered":"How Paolo Banchero’s stats stopped being fluff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paolo Banchero is a future perennial All-Star<\/a>. He is a force in the league waiting to be unleashed. He is a former top overall pick who has lived up to every expectation, turning his team from one of the worst in the league into a potential contender in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

Yet, the discussion around Banchero still centers on what he is not. There is a constant layer of doubt on everything that he does.<\/p>\n

While other top overall picks like Victor Wembanyama and Cooper Flagg were immediately showered with praise and expectations of changing the league, Paolo Banchero and his 25.9 points per game last year and three straight years at 20.0 points per game have been largely dismissed.<\/p>\n

He was far and away the most productive rookie in his rookie season, putting up a stat line not seen since Luka Doncic and LeBron James. And yet, the debate centered on defensive ace Walker Kessler and Jalen Williams being better than him.<\/p>\n

The debate, especially with Williams<\/a>, has gotten louder since the Oklahoma City Thunder’s championship despite how different their two roles are. Banchero has had a lot on his shoulders from the jump.<\/p>\n

He did not need everyone piling on.<\/p>\n

And while it is easy to look at his full-season numbers without proper context, it loses the fact that Banchero has been a playoff performer and has taken a necessary step to dispel these perceptions.<\/p>\n

Banchero has shown plenty of signs that his stats are indeed not fluff or empty calories. He has shown that he has taken a pretty big step and contributes in a meaningful way to winner.<\/p>\n

The 2026 season, with the addition of Desmond Bane and the return of Jalen Suggs from injury, should only further accelerate this efficient transformation.<\/p>\n

This season is a big one to show that Banchero has taken a pretty big leap to beat these accusations. Accusations he may already have beaten.<\/p>\n

The efficiency debate<\/p>\n

The debates about Paolo Banchero continued throughout the offseason, focusing on his efficiency or lack thereof and looking at advanced numbers to ask whether he actually helps the Magic win.<\/p>\n

Basketball is not played on a stat sheet. It is clear from watching the gravity and respect he demands, while understanding he has a lot of room to improve, that he is a high-level player. Banchero is expected to be among the best players in the league and is held to that high standard.<\/p>\n

Banchero clearly still has work to get there though.<\/p>\n

But the stat sheet is a reflection of what happens on the court. And Banchero does have to answer for some of his inefficiencies.<\/p>\n

Last season, he shot only 45.2 percent, slightly below his 2024 season average, and 32.0 percent from three. He posted a career-best 55.1 percent true shooting percentage. But that was only better than LaMelo Ball among players with a 30-percent usage rate. Franz Wagner was only slightly better than Paolo Banchero at 55.8 percent.<\/p>\n

This was weighed heavily down by Banchero’s struggles coming back from his torn oblique in January. <\/p>\n

From his return until the All-Star break (17 games), he averaged 20.6 points per game and shot 40.6 percent from the floor and 28.9 percent from three. He had a 48.6 percent true shooting percentage, the worst of any rotation player with a usage rate of 30 percent or better.<\/p>\n

Then there is the on\/off argument.<\/p>\n

The Magic had only a 109.1 offensive rating with Banchero on the floor last year, only 0.2 points per 100 possessions better than the team’s overall average. That compares poorly to Wagner and the team’s 111.8 offensive rating when he is on the floor, the team’s best among its rotation players.<\/p>\n

That only feeds the concern that Banchero’s stats and scoring are something of empty calories for as impressive as they are.<\/p>\n

It is easy to see why there is a belief Banchero still has work to do.<\/p>\n

Banchero cuts the fat<\/p>\n

But Paolo Banchero has already cut out a lot of the fat from his game. If anyone cared to look.<\/p>\n

The injury played a major role last year. There is no doubt in that. <\/p>\n

Banchero started off hot through the first five games, including his first career 50-point game<\/a>. But that month after he returned from the injury was rough. And after missing two months, it weighs down all his numbers.<\/p>\n

Then again, his numbers after the All-Star Break, when he found his rhythm, changed everything. It flipped all of his numbers on their head<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the All-Star break, Banchero averaged 29.0 points per game on 47.3 percent shooting and 33.3 percent from three. He posted a 58.3 percent true shooting percentage. That put him eighth among players with a usage rate of at least 30 percent.<\/p>\n

The Magic had a 113.6 offensive rating with Banchero on the floor after the All-Star break, 0.9 points per 100 possessions better than the team’s overall average, but fifth highest on the team, right behind Franz Wagner.<\/p>\n

Banchero’s play after the break hinted that he had made a major leap in efficiency and production. He was no longer just empty stats. His numbers were driving the team to wins as the Magic rallied with a 12-6 finish to get to 41-41 and make the Playoffs through the Play-In Tournament.<\/p>\n

It made the hint that Banchero’s stats were not as empty as his critics would imagine.<\/p>\n

Now this is a relatively small 24-game sample. Perhaps that is a fair criticism. But it points to things moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n

And everyone should know now that Banchero will perform in the Playoffs — following up his solid 2024 Playoffs with 29.4 points per game on 43.5 percent shooting against the Boston Celtics in this postseason. The Magic had a 106.8 offensive rating with Banchero on the floor, the best mark of any rotation player in the Playoffs (not helped by Banchero’s absence from the decisive run in Game 5<\/a> because of his foul trouble).<\/p>\n

If the Magic are going to take a major step this season, Banchero will need to sustain and grow these numbers. But there is mounting evidence that he can.<\/p>\n

There is more and more evidence that Banchero’s stats are not full of the fluff and fat his critics suggest. This could be a season where he takes a major step forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paolo Banchero is a future perennial All-Star. He is a force in the league waiting to be unleashed.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-129704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}