Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins had high praise for the Orlando Magic star Paolo Banchero. According to Perkins, Banchero is one of the best young players in the NBA and even brought up two other star players who are comparable to Magic’s franchise star.
Banchero has carried the Magic this season, averaging a career-high in three categories. The 6-foot-10 forward is putting up 29.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists while shooting 49% from the field. The one-time All-Star is in the third year of his career and hopes to lead Orlando back to the postseason following their first-round exit against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
With the way he’s played this season, Perkins sees a few similarities with Brooklyn Nets star Ben Simmons and former NBA player Michael Beasley. Perk parted the likeness of Banchero with the other players on Tuesday’s episode of “All the Smoke.”
“If you take Ben Simmons, prime Ben Simmons, his first three years. And you take Mike Beasley, and these motherf***ers have a baby, you get Paolo Banchero,” said Perkins. “That’s who you get, he’s that polarizing.”
“So Ben Simmons attacking down here the first three years, he was unstoppable. That’s Paolo. If you look at [his] game, turning around, his jab steps and all that… Paolo doing it from the right hand standpoint. Can he get better as far as making shots like Beasley? Absolutely.”
Downhill scoring & a lethal midrange.
Y’all rocking with Big Perk’s NBA comp for Paolo Banchero?
ALL THE SMOKE with @KendrickPerkins: https://t.co/vfjxUNSvyB pic.twitter.com/awuG7SyJyU
— All the Smoke Productions (@allthesmokeprod) November 6, 2024
Unfortunately for Banchero, his intelligent start to the season came to a halt after sustaining a torn right oblique. He has missed the Orlando Magic’s past three games and will be unavailable for multiple weeks.
The Orlando Magic has struggled since losing Banchero to injury
Banchero was a significant part of the early season success of the Orlando Magic. The forward led the team in scoring and assists. The former Duke Blue Devil star was the only player to average at least 20 points in the team, giving Orlando a 3-2 record early on.
However, the team lost three straight games following the injury to their star. The team has had inconsistencies with which player will step up in place of Banchero. In the past three games, Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner have taken turns leading the Orlando Magic amid the absence of their former top pick.
Wagner has averaged 17.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists. The German star didn’t have the best shooting performance during the stretch and only knocked down 25% of his shots from beyond the arc.
Suggs, meanwhile, has posted 19.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists. The shooting guard hasn’t been reliable from deep as well, only making 18.8% of his threes.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen with Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
