ESPN released its annual top 100 players in the NBA poll, and Orlando's Paolo Banchero was ranked much lower than he should've been.
To get their rankings, ESPN asked its expert panel to vote on player-versus-player matchups from more than 20,000 possible pairings. The panel consisted of more than 150 reporters, editors, producers, and analysts, who were asked to rank players based on their predicted contributions, quality, and quantity for the 2025-26 regular season only.
Using the criteria of past production and projecting how the player will perform this season, Banchero should've been a top 15 player at minimum.
Paolo Banchero's production
Since coming into the league as the number one overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Paolo Banchero has continued to overachieve and exceed all expectations. Banchero was nearly a unanimous Rookie of the Year winner, made his first All-Star appearance in 2024, and helped lead the Magic to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
Banchero has not only performed in the regular season, but he's slowly turned into one of the best playoff risers in the NBA in recent memory. In 11 career playoff games, Banchero is averaging 28.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists, while shooting 44.7 percent from the floor and a blistering 41.8 percent from three.
Banchero has also produced at an exceptionally high level through three years in the league, and the most impressive part is that he's done it with some of the worst spacing in the NBA. Every year of Banchero's career, the Magic have been at the bottom of the league in 3-point percentage, and last season they ranked dead last by shooting an abysmal 31.5 percent from distance.
After sustaining an oblique tear early into the 2024-25 season, Banchero would miss the next 34 games before returning to action on January 10th against the Bucks. Paolo, in limited action, came out playing with his hair on fire in that game, dropping 34 points while knocking down five shots from distance in the loss.
Banchero turned it up another notch and was playing at an MVP level post-All-Star break, helping propel the Magic to the playoffs. Banchero, in 24 games after the All-Star break, averaged 29.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists while shooting 47.3 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from distance.
Making the case for Paolo
When you take into account the sample size from those final two dozen games, his 11 career playoff performances, and on top of the fact that the Magic added more talent to their roster this offseason, how can you not put Banchero higher up on that list?
Orlando has been talked about all summer for having one of the most productive offseasons and becoming a serious threat to win the East.
The Magic moved off of long-time players like Cole Anthony and Gary Harris this offseason and instead brought in high-level vets like Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones to significantly raise this team's floor. Banchero is going into this season healthy, but he should have a ton more space to operate now, which will open up everything else on the court.
Taking a look at some of the players ranked above Banchero, it's not a foregone conclusion that they're currently better than him or will have a more productive season than Banchero.
Devin Booker came in at #15, and despite his elite offensive game, Banchero is the better player at this point in his career with far more upside. Evan Mobley, who came in at #13, had a career season last year and is an elite two-way player, but it's close. Lastly, Jalen Williams came in at #11, and although J-Dub is an elite two-way wing who helped propel the Thunder to an NBA championship, he's not on the same level as a Banchero.
All of these players are terrific in their own right, but Banchero is expected to make an All-NBA leap this year and help lead this Magic team to a top-three seed in the East. If he can take that next step forward, we will look back at this list and wonder why he wasn't ranked higher.