Paolo Banchero is hurt again, and this Magic experiment might be cursed

Banchero is reportedly out 4-to-6 weeks with a high ankle sprain The 2024 playoffs were supposed to be the start of something special in Orlando. The Magic had drafted Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero in three straight lotteries and had just pushed Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers to seven games. They were young, talented, and when they went all in on the Desmond Bane trade last summer, just about everyone officially stamped them as an Eastern Conference contender. Unfortunately, we've never fully gotten to see what this team could be, and it's starting to look like we never will. Injuries continue to hit them as hard as any team in the NBA.

Two games into the 2026-27 season, it's Banchero reportedly headed for a four-to-six week hiatus after suffering a high ankle sprain in Orlando's loss to the Timberwolves on Friday. The Magic just cannot catch a break. Over the last two seasons, the Banchero-Wagner-Suggs trio has managed to play in just 25 games together. Last year, Wagner and Suggs missed a combined 73 games to injury. The year before that, Banchero and Wagner managed just 40 games together. They literally suffered the same injury that year. Banchero tore his oblique in the first week of the season, missed 34 games, and just as he was gearing up