The 2025-26 season has come and gone for the Orlando Magic, and despite a season full of peaks and valleys, the young core of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Desmond Bane showed its high potential in their limited healthy minutes together on the floor.

With their season having ended, a clear picture can be painted about the performances of these players and how they measure up to their NBA peers. The Athletic’s Law Murray has taken the time to give his view of the NBA’s various talents and has applied them to his annual tier system.

The first player from Orlando’s core to make Murray’s list is Paolo Banchero. Murray begins each tier with a number, and creates subdivisions of the tiers with the letters A-E. This season, Banchero fell into the 3B group.

The players in 3B certainly are not bad company to share a space with. Players such as LaMelo Ball, Darius Garland, OG Anunoby and Brandon Ingram share this space with Banchero, but it is a slight regression from the 3A group he occupied after the 2024-25 season.

Banchero's regression in Murray’s rankings is understandable, as he did not demonstrate the same kind of upward trajectory or dominance he had illustrated in the seasons preceding the 2025-26 campaign. In 72 regular season games, Banchero averaged 22.2 points (down from 25.9 points in 24-25) and shot slightly worse from the perimeter (32%-30.5%). However, he did increase his assist average slightly (4.8-5.2) as well as his rebound average (7.5-8.4).

Banchero also showed flashes of his ability to meet the moment in the postseason, with his Game 5 45-point outburst against the Detroit Pistons serving as a prime example, though his scoring average, field goal percentage and 3-point percentage were all the lowest of his career in the playoffs.

Murray takes the time to praise Banchero’s athleticism and skill-set, such as his ability to work in the pick and roll and be an effective threat on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers. Despite those positive traits, Murray criticizes Banchero by calling him a "chronically messy player" but excuses it due to Orlando’s spacing issues and its lack of a true point guard to run the offense.

Murray is not wrong in this analysis. Banchero averaged 3.1 turnovers in his fourth year, which is tied for the worst of his career. In many situations, defenses would take advantage of Banchero’s slow and limited handle with active hands to force steals. He has shown improvement in his ability to facilitate, but also demonstrated errant passes when simple reads were available.

While Banchero fell out of the 3A tier, players that jumped him from the year prior include Jalen Duren (previously 4B) and Alperen Sengun (previously 3B).

Don't miss out on our ROUNDTABLE community and the latest news!

It's completely free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.

Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!

For additional coverage, subscribe to our Full Court Magic Podcast!