Paolo Banchero believes the Magic have a legit shot at winning the East this upcoming season

Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero — one of the better young players in the NBA today — seemingly believes that the Magic should build upon their successful 2023-24 season in the upcoming 2024-25 campaign.

“Man, we feel like we’re right there,” Banchero said regarding where he thinks Orlando stacks up against the top teams in the Eastern Conference. “We’re right there with all those teams. I remember last year we started the year off as a top-three, top-two seed, and everybody thought it was a fluke. Everybody thought we was gon’ be a play-in team and drop out the top of the East.

“But we finished strong and got the fifth seed and had a chance to really grab the two seed at the end of the season. So, we were right there last year. And so, we got better this year. Like I said, I got better. All of us got better. We got some new pieces that’s gon’ help a lot, and yeah, we’re trying to make some noise. We should easily be a top-four, top-three team and have a chance to win the East.”

The Magic won 47 games during the 2023-24 regular season, which marked the team’s most victories in a single 82-game slate since the 2010-11 campaign, when Orlando was led by star big man Dwight Howard.

It’s difficult to imagine that the Magic would have enjoyed such a successful regular season if it weren’t for the growth that Banchero showed off in his second season in the NBA. He averaged more points (22.6), assists (5.4), steals (0.9) and blocks (0.6) per game as a sophomore than he did as a rookie.

Banchero also improved upon his scoring efficiency compared to his maiden season in the pros, considering he shot 45.5 percent from the field and 33.9 percent from 3-point range across 80 games played.

On top of being the Magic’s leading scorer, the 21-year-old was also one of the most prolific scorers in the NBA last season. He averaged the 23rd-most points per contest of any player in the league and more than the likes of heralded scorers such as Karl-Anthony Towns, Pascal Siakam and Jamal Murray.

Fast forward to the 2024 NBA Playoffs, and Banchero nearly led the Magic to a series victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the opening round. The Magic lost the series in seven games, and the former Duke University standout averaged 27.0 points on 45.6 percent shooting from the floor and 40.0 percent from 3-point range as well as 8.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.6 blocks per contest.

As Banchero implied, the Magic added a player this summer who will help to bolster Orlando’s perimeter defense moving forward. Orlando inked Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — who won one title as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers and another with the Denver Nuggets — to a three-year, $66 million deal. Caldwell-Pope averaged 10.1 points and 1.3 steals per game across 76 games with Denver during the 2023-24 regular season.