Orlando Magic star Paolo Banchero tried to singlehandedly will his team to a win over the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in the first round of the NBA playoffs. But despite jumping out to a 3-1 lead over Detroit, Orlando managed to fumble away the series, falling 116-94 in Game 7.
After the contest, Banchero, who led the Magic with 38 points, was asked whether he believed the team was good enough to win the NBA Finals. While Banchero wanted to be optimistic about the Magic’s chances, he admitted the team isn’t “good enough” right now.
Banchero pointed to the Magic’s performance in the playoffs over the last three seasons. Despite making it to the postseason in each of those years, the Magic have not advanced past the first round. The team has come extremely close twice, taking the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games during the 2023-24 season and nearly toppling the Pistons this season, but hasn’t gotten the job done. The Magic entered each postseason series as the lower seed, so the team wasn’t necessarily expected to make deep runs in those seasons.
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That’s hardly a consolation for Banchero, who just watched the team blow a 3-1 lead to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Banchero, 23, wasn’t to blame for Orlando’s struggles in the final three games of the series. He dropped 45 points in Game 5, 17 points in Game 6 and 38 points in Game 7.
With forward Franz Wagner injured in Game 4, more pressure fell on Banchero to lead the team to a win in the series. Other than Game 6, which saw every member of the Magic struggle from the field, he did enough to keep his team’s hopes alive. Had Wagner not gotten hurt and missed the final three games of the series, things may have turned out differently for the Magic.
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Following the loss, the team has already started to make changes. After weeks of rumors, the Magic reportedly fired head coach Jamahl Mosley on Monday. Team president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman, however, seems likely to stay, as he reportedly signed an extension with the team during the season, per The Athletic.
With Mosley out, it will fall to the Magic’s next head coach to push the team to the next level. While Banchero’s comments likely weren’t the reason the team decided to move on from Mosley, it was clear the front office agreed that something needed to change following yet another first-round exit from the Magic.
