Orlando Magic fans did not expect to have their Sunday off for the All-Star Game when the season began.
After an injury-filled season where the team had two potential All-Stars in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner miss too much time early in the season to get recognition, the Magic hoped this year would be a breakthrough.
This year, injuries again hit both players. Wagner would have been a likely All-Star if he had not suffered a high ankle sprain in early December.
That will not help Banchero very much.
Banchero was rightfully given a max extension as such a key player for the Magic. But last year's injury-filled season was supposed to be his last without a clear-cut All-Star argument.
Banchero might be two or three players down the list of players to fill the field in Los Angeles if they had needed someone. This has been a frustrating season for him that has left a lot of questions about his potential and his place among the best young players.
It raises another uncomfortable question about Banchero: If his place among the NBA All-Stars is now in question, what is his place among Team USA ahead of the 2027 World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics?
Like his All-Star spot, a spot on Team USA felt assured for Banchero after he played in the 2023 World Cup. With the LeBron James generation getting a swan song in Paris in 2024, it felt like Paolo Banchero would be a shoo-in for the next generation of young American stars to lead the national team.
With the league going to this USA vs. World All-Star format, though, the roster for the 2027 World Cup is coming into some focus. And it feels like Banchero is being left out.
Paolo in the Team USA race
The NBA has constantly been trying to spice up its All-Star Game and came up with the new gimmick of Team USA vs. the World this year. It is fitting for this year with the All-Star Game leading into NBC's coverage of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics in primetime this year.
Director Grant Hill, coach Erik Spoelstra and the U.S. Basketball selection committee will obviously have their own process to select the roster for the 2027 World Cup and the 2028 Olympic roster beyond that.
They have often used the World Cup roster to test younger players and de-emphasized that competition. That is how Paolo Banchero got the nod after his rookie year as Team USA wrested him away from Team Italy.
With the All-Star Game creating two American teams, the picture for the 2027 World Cup is coming into focus. Here is what that depth chart might look like:
PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cade Cunningham | Devin Booker | Anthony Edwards | Scottie Barnes | Jalen Duren |
Tyrese Maxey | Donovan Mitchell | Brandon Ingram | Jalen Johnson | Chet Holmgren |
De'Aaron Fox | 1 Open Spot |
We will leave off Jalen Brunson, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant and LeBron James because of age. Jaylen Brown is left off the list because of his frustrations with the Olympic selection process in 2024.
But this provisional roster, besides being guard-heavy, also does not include 2024 Olympics participants Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum (injured this year but generally perennial All-Stars) and sharpshooter Derrick White.
It also does not include 2023 World Cup players Mikal Bridges, Austin Reaves (a major All-Star snub this year) and Jaren Jackson Jr., in addition to Paolo Banchero.
This also does not include potential young players like Cooper Flagg, V.J. Edgecombe, Kon Knueppel, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. Not to mention incoming rookies like Darryn Peterson, A.J. Dybantsa or Cameron Boozer. Or any of the role players the team likes to include on the final roster (a potential avenue for Jalen Suggs to make the team as a defender) or non-All-Stars this season like Jalen Williams, Tyler Herro or Bam Adebayo.
There is room for Banchero to make the roster still, especially with a lack of frontcourt options. But Banchero has his work cut out for him. There are a lot of players capable of being on Team USA.
And if he wants to play in the 2027 World Cup, he needs a much better 2027 season.
Hope for 2027
If Paolo Banchero has an advantage, it is that he is already in the Team USA program.
He had a solid run, moonlighting as the team's backup center, in the 2023 World Cup. Coach Steve Kerr spoke highly of him. Erik Spoelstra was an assistant coach on this team -- and always seems to see him at his best when the Orlando Magic play the Miami Heat. Jamahl Mosley is part of the Team USA system running the Select Team.
Those relationships are hard to break. And Team USA made it a point to poach him from Team Italy.
Banchero too seemingly wants to return to the national team program as more than an honorific.
Banchero got a few of those international-based questions when the Magic went to Europe in January. Banchero told Olympics.com he would welcome the opportunity to play in a West Coast Olympics.
"Being in the U.S. and L.A., it's going to be in our backyard. And I'm a West Coast kid from Seattle, so LA is not far," Banchero said. "And so, if I was able to be on that team, it would be a huge, huge opportunity. “I'm sure I would put my all on the line to try and get the gold medal."
For all of Banchero's struggles this year, it is still clear he is a beast to defend and soaks up a lot of attention.
In what is universally being described as a down season, Banchero is still averaging 21.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. His defense has struggled some this year, but he has been a more active passer as he has struggled to find his shot.
Although, even there, Banchero is shooting 45.4 percent from the floor and a career-best 55.9 percent true shooting percentage.
Banchero would certainly be playing a role, something he embraced in his 2023 World Cup run. There are other stars on the roster.
It is frustrating that the Magic are sitting out this All-Star Game. They feel like they have two All-Stars to build with for the foreseeable future. And neither has gotten the call to the game because of injuries among other reasons.
If Banchero wants to be on Team USA game, there is undoubtedly one way for him to do so: Play better and lead the Magic deeper into the Playoffs in 2027. That will set him up for all of these honors for the rest of his career.