Banchero’s path offers parallel for the Spurs
As the losses piled up, so did the misery and at some point someone in the Orlando Magic organization had to wonder if it was all worth it.
The Magic stumbled to a 22-60 record last season, their second in a row, barely getting over 20 wins.
It was decidedly no fun. The payoff came May 17, when Orlando — from the second spot — won the first pick in the NBA draft lottery.
“It’s so much to look forward to with this organization and this group and this fan base,” coach Jamahl Moseley said on the ESPN broadcast that night. “It’s going to be special.”
As the Magic bring the spoils of their agony to the AT&T Center on Tuesday, the Spurs would do well to take a look.
At this time next year, they hope to be showing off their own high-powered new toy.
Orlando used its first No. 1 pick in 18 years on Duke phenom Paolo Banchero. He seems to be working out OK.
“He’s got everything you want in a basketball player,”
Spurs guard Devonte’ Graham said.
The same, and more, could be said of 7-foot- 4 French phenom Victor Wembanyama, the undisputed prize of the 2023 NBA draft.
The team selecting Wembanyama would be taking the odds-on favorite to win next season’s Rookie of the Year award, and a player who could lift any sad-sack franchise for years to come.
At 17-50, the Spurs have the
SPURS VS. MAGIC
AT&T Center. 7 p.m. Tuesday at
BSSW; 1200 AM, 1350 AM (Spanish), 107.5 FM (Spanish).
league’s third-worst record, giving them an equal 14 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick along with Detroit and Houston.
Throughout a miserable
Spurs players have done well to avoid daydreaming about Wembanyama.
“We have to focus on the team that is there right now, but there is always going to be talent in the draft,” said rookie Jeremy Sochan, who last June became the Spurs’ first top 10 pick since Tim Duncan in 1997. “If we get one of them, I think it’s going to be a great addition.”
Since lottery odds were flattened in 2019, the team with the worst record has never won the top slot. The No. 1 pick has gone to a team with a bottom 3 record in three of the four years, however.
Orlando won the No. 1 pick last year with the league’s second-worst record. The Magic spent it on Banchero, who has been as advertised in his first NBA season.
The 20-year-old forward leads all first-year players in scoring at 20 points per game, outpacing Indiana’s Benedict Mathurin (16.6 points per game).
Banchero is looking to become the first rookie to reach that threshold in more than 25 appearances since Dallas’ Luka Doncic in 2018-19.
Flashing a complete collection of skills in a 6-foot-10 package, Banchero also averages 6.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists.
Not surprisingly, Banchero is the runaway favorite to claim Rookie of the Year honors.
“He’s a big dude, and he has great touch,” Spurs center Zach Collins said. “Big huge guys like that usually don’t have great touch, and he has that.”
Banchero has posted five 30-point games this season and three more of 29.
The Spurs saw Banchstar. ero first-hand in December, when he had 18 points, six rebounds and four assists in a 133-113 blowout Magic victory in Orlando.
“He’s a great talent, to be that skilled that young,” Graham said. “You’ve got to be locked in when you guard him.”
As dominant as Banchero has been at times for Orlando, the Magic still are not setting the NBA world aflame.
Orlando enters Tuesday’s game at 28-40, in 13th place of the Eastern Conference and a longshot even to make the play-in tournament.
This is something for the 17-50 Spurs to note: Landing the No. 1 pick is only the next step in a rebuilding project, not the final one.
So much of this season for the Spurs has been about seeding the ground for Wembanyama or whoever happens to be their next centerpiece superseason,
Asked before Sunday’s 102-90 loss to Oklahoma City if he believed the team’s rookie trio of Sochan, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley have grown as professionals this season, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich chuckled.
“I certainly hope so,” Popovich said, “or it’s been a big waste of time.”
Like the Magic, the Thunder are a few seasons ahead of the Spurs on the rebuilding trail.
Oklahoma City earned the No. 2 overall pick last summer with the NBA’S fourth-worst record. The Thunder used it on Gonzaga big man Chet Holmgren, who suffered a season-ending foot fracture while playing in a pro-am game in August.
Oklahoma City has nevertheless played itself to the cusp of a play-in game, tied with the L.A. Lakers for 10th place in the West.
From the outside looking
SPURS (17-50) VS. MAGIC (28-40)
When, where: 7 p.m., AT&T Center.
Bally Sports Southwest, 1200 AM, 1350 AM (Spanish), 107.5 FM (Spanish).
PROBABLE STARTERS
PG Malaki Branham (6-4, 1st year), SG Devin Vassell (6-5, 3rd), SF Keldon Johnson (6-5 4th), PF Jeremy Sochan (6-9, 1st), C Zach Collins (6-11, 5th).
PG Markelle Fultz (6-4, 6th year), SG Gary Harris (6-4, 9th), SF Franz Wagner (6-10, 2nd), PF Paolo Banchero (6-10, 1st), C Moritz Wagner (6-11, 5th).
RESERVES
F Keita Bates-diop (6-8, 5th), G Devonte’ Graham (6-1, 5th), G Tre Jones (6-1, 3rd), F Doug Mcdermott (6-6, 9th year), G Blake Wesley (6-4, 1st), F/C Charles Bassey (6-9, 2nd), G/F Romeo Langford (6-5, 4th), C Gorgui Dieng (6-11, 10th), F/C Sandro Mamukelashvili (6-11, 2nd). Inactive: Khem Birch (right knee chondromalacia), Dominick Barlow (G League), Julian Champaigne (G League).
G Cole Anthony (6-3, 3rd year), C Goga Bitadze (6-11, 4th), C Bol Bol (7-2, 4th), C Wendell
in, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault believes the Spurs’ reconstruction project is on the right track.
“Everybody is on their own race,” Daigneault said. “Everybody’s timetable is different. (The Spurs) seem to have highcharacter competitors. That’s the No. 1 ingredient. They have a lot of guys who are of the right stuff.”
What the Spurs do not have, at least not yet, are guys who are of the star stuff.
With any luck, that might happen this summer.
Carter Jr. (6-10, 5th), G Michael Carter-williams (6-6, 10th), F Caleb Houstan (6-8, 1st), F Jonathan Isaac (6-10, 5th), F Chuma Okeke (6-11, 3rd), F Admiral Schofield (6-5, 3rd), G Jalen Suggs (6-5, 2nd). Inactive: Kevon Harris (G League).
COACHES
Spurs: Gregg Popovich. Magic: Jamahl Moseley.
STAT LEADERS
Points, Johnson, 21.6 per game; rebounds, Collins, 6.1; assists, Jones, 6.2; steals, Jones, 1.3; blocks, Bassey, 0.9.
Points, Banchero, 20.0 per game; rebounds, Carter, 8.8; assists, Fultz, 5.5; steals, Fultz, 1.5; blocks, Bol, 1.3.
NOTABLE
The Spurs have won 20 of the past 26 meetings against the Magic. Orlando is 6-28 all-time in road games at San Antonio.
The Magic won the previous meeting 133-113 on Dec. 23 in Orlando, as Anthony flirted with a triple-double (23 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists).
Only two NBA rookies have topped 500 points, 275 rebounds and 100 assists this season: Orlando’s Banchero and the Spurs’ Sochan. The Magic, meanwhile, already cashed in their chips. And Banchero is Orlando’s ace up their sleeve.
“He’s had a good year,” Collins said, “and he’s only going to continue to get better.”
Come Tuesday night, the Spurs get a chance to admire Banchero from up close — and dream about their own reward to come.