Paolo Banchero made his highly anticipated return on Friday against the Milwaukee Bucks with a special Undertaker-themed entrance video. The 22-year-old was put on the sidelines because of an oblique injury. It is worth noting that the team is already without several key players falling to injuries—Franz Wagner (oblique), Moritz Wagner (knee), and Jalen Suggs (back), just to name a few. This makes his return even more important.
Banchero sustained the injury in the Orlando Magic’s fifth game of the season. While many would suggest that a five-game run is not enough to draw any conclusions, it is worth noting that he did have an excellent start to the season. During that stage of the season, Banchero averaged 29.0 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 5.6 assists in 36.4 minutes per game. Moreover, he recorded a career-high 50-point performance against the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 28 being his most noteworthy outing.
That said, Banchero’s return had to be special and the team did so by making a special theme video by drawing inspiration from WWE’s The Undertaker. Watch the clip below:
Paolo Banchero talks returning after to the Magic after layoff
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Paolo Banchero was seemingly excited when he was asked about his potential return when speaking to the media during Thursday’s shootaround before being ruled out to face the Minnesota Timberwolves. While expressing his joy to return to the court, he said:
“It’s amazing, really. Thinking back to when I first went down, it was just those four games, and then after that, they were rolling. Franz was carrying [the team]and then he went down. I think that was the true test, just for our team, our two main guys being out and guys stepping up even more,” Banchero said via NBA.com “It’s really encouraging for guys who are out, to see their teammates step up, get wins, and still play the right way. And just uphold that standard that we set at the start of the season. It’s really encouraging, and it just makes you excited for when we get back to full strength.”
With the 22-year-old back, the Magic have their best player ready to lead the team’s run for another playoff appearance. Going into Friday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando is in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 22-17 record. However, given all the injury issues the team has gone through, that is a pretty remarkable achievement for the Magic.
