The Two Players Who Must Step up in Paolo Banchero's Absence

The 2026-27 NBA season has only just begun, and the Orlando Magic are already having challenges thrown their way. 

On Saturday, the team announced that Paolo Banchero suffered a low-grade right high ankle sprain in Friday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, an injury that carries a recovery time of four to six weeks. Banchero's absence means the Magic must navigate their upcoming opponents without the services of their best player. 

That means Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane will have to step up in the meantime and elevate their games to an even higher level.

Wagner and Bane were successful on Sunday, as they combined for 45 points to lead Orlando to a 111-102 victory over the defending champion New York Knicks. The win was the Magic's first of the season.

On the latest episode of the Full Court Magic Podcast, I talked about the importance of Wagner and Bane now that Banchero is set to miss time, and what they need to do to keep improving to be the best versions of themselves:

"So, what can Desmond Bane and Franz Wagner offer? Well, I'm gonna be honest with you guys. If you've been watching these games, you know these first two for Desmond Bane have been brutal. Through the first two games, he is averaging 11.5 points on 26.9% shooting from the field and 21.1% shooting from 3-point range, and you could see the frustration on Bane's face. I could see it; it was palpable. 

You could tell that he's not happy with his performance right now, and you could tell that he wants to do more. He's a very passionate player, and at his best is an All-Star-caliber player. We saw Bane get off to a slow start last season in his first year with the Magic, and now it seems to be a repeating process here, but they're really gonna need the best version of him here sooner rather than later. So Desmond Bane has to figure it out and figure it out fast now that Paulo Banchero’s off the floor, and I trust that he will, especially in this Sean Sweeney offense.

I think that he's just trying to get into a rhythm, and maybe this is just the kind of player that Desmond is, and you'd rather see him start out slow than finish the season slow when you're fighting for a playoff spot. But they're gonna need the best that they can get from him. In terms of Franz, as an offensive player right now, through two games, averaging 31 minutes per contest, he's averaged 20 points while shooting 47.1% from the field, but just absolutely abysmal from three, 21.4% from three-point range, just has really, really struggled from beyond the arc. 

And he's never been the best 3-point shooter in the world, but the Magic certainly need him to be a little bit better than this, and he just hasn't been better than this right now. So gonna have to see some improvements there from Boogie, and make sure that he does what he's capable of doing with his co-star, Paolo, out."