The Orlando Magic need a spell to elevate their damage curse. They’ve been haunted by illnesses, the newest of which reportedly could sideline their best participant for more than a month.
Magic star Paolo Banchero is now nursing a low-grade proper high ankle sprain, the workforce announced on Saturday. The damage, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, normally comes with a four-to-six-week restoration timeline.
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Banchero, a soon-to-be 24-year-old one-time All-Star ahead, exited a 115-93 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the third quarter Friday evening and did not return. Banchero sustained in the damage in the first half, per the workforce.
He completed with 14 factors, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in a setback that dropped the Magic to 0-2 in the infancy of Sean Sweeney’s first season at the helm.
During the Magic’s season-opening defeat to the Atlanta Hawks, Banchero piled up 35 factors on 10-of-12 taking pictures, plus 10 assists and 7 rebounds.
The Duke product, whom Orlando chosen No. 1 general in the 2022 draft, is coming off a 2025-26 marketing campaign that saw him average 22.2 factors, 8.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per recreation. He helped the Magic attain the playoffs for the third consecutive season, except they were once again bounced in the first spherical.
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Orlando blew a 3-1 lead to the top-seeded Detroit Pistons, main to the firing of Jamahl Mosley, who’s now the head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Just before that teaching change, in the fallout of the Magic’s collapse, Banchero admitted his group wasn’t “good enough” at the time to make the Eastern Conference finals or NBA Finals.
Due to the Magic’s damage woes, it’s been tough for them to understand their potential. Now, just two video games into Sweeney’s stint, Banchero is sidelined.
Last season, Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bane and Wendell Carter Jr. were all on the ground collectively for just 182 minutes, according to ESPN, which also reported that, during that small pattern measurement, the Magic outscored opponents by 45 factors.
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Banchero missed 36 video games in 2024-25. Suggs wasn’t on the court for 47 video games that season. Wagner was out for 48 video games last season and then notably wasn’t obtainable for the last three video games of the first-round sequence versus the Pistons.
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