Which athlete did Paolo look up to?? | Magic Crossover Episode 3: Paolo Banchero Presented by Starry

Which athlete did Paolo look up to?? | Magic Crossover Episode 3: Paolo Banchero Presented by Starry

Looking at your game you’re coming off the rookie season Rookie of the Year where did you want to improve and and how did you want to take your game to the next level to build off that rookie season for me just wanted to improve everywhere um I think I had a good year

Last year but there’s a lot of things I could have done better and that I you know went back and watched and studied and um you know just brought with me you know to this year so wanted to improve on all those things and then you know

Just have more success as a team I think last year we took a step forward um with winning more games and competing more but I think this year you know we can take another step and hopefully get into the playoffs and you know just do things

That not only me but you know the rest of the guys on the team have been wanting to do their whole career so um it’s exciting you’ve had a jam-packed first year you’ve done a lot but you know I feel like it’s always measured in moments that’s how you can remember it

The most are those moment moments so what’s a moment that has really stuck out to you or stayed with you throughout this past year that point of the season last year where um I think really when Marquel came back a couple other guys came back ji um and we started to really

Win a lot of games and started to really compete I think that was like Midway through December almost and uh that was just a really fun part of the Season you know we were winning um you know every other game um running off games in a row

And uh you just could feel the energy and just feel the shift and mentality and you know seeing as a team that you know we can really compete and you know be a be a great team in this league so it just gave us a huge boost you know

Heading into the next year and obviously you know all the stuff happened in the summer was great uh for everybody not just myself so um it’s a it’s a huge you know just Improvement and uh a huge boost heading this year have you having

Fun with these guys is it a is it a blast to play with every day is fun every day is something new uh on and off the court you know practice is always fun super competitive um and then yeah off the court it’s a bunch of great

Personalities you know we crack jokes we have fun so it’s a great to be a great great room to be around I was hearing you miked up when you did your mic up and it was funny to hear just like how you guys just the banter and the

Conversations and you guys really do feel like it’s a Brotherhood in a situ in a in a sense for you guys and do you get those vibes that everyone is really just jelling together and and and they’re having fun together as this team yeah I mean that was the vibe when I

First got here you know right away like that’s just I noticed um obviously in the NBA you know a lot of the advice I got was just you know it’s kind of every man for himself you know it’s a business you know all that um coming from college

Um but honestly coming here it felt kind of that same Vibe you know everyone being together guys spending time with each other uh you know on and off the court and so uh I was just blessed to be able to be in this situation and you

Know all the guys we all contribute to it with our with our kind of selfless mindsets and you know nobody’s bigger than a team that’s like such a good good mindset to have and but you know I also want to ask you know who is Pao outside

Of the court so you’ve been here for some time now what are the fun things you like to do around Orlando do you have a fun restaurant you like you know what are the what who is Pao outside of this area we I like to chill a lot you

Probably won’t see me a lot in Orlando uh you know obviously I think it it’ll change as as I you know get more years under my belt here and get more and more comfortable but for the most part I stay in the house um relax you know around my

My close friends and uh you know teammates when I can see them um but no I’m cool man I just like to you know chill you know watch sports um go to the gym when I can um I’ve been in Disney once so that’s something I did yeah I I

Still got to go to Universal um so I’m going definitely do that this year but um just trying to do little things um but I definitely need like a somebody who I think knows more about Orlando to kind of walk me through some of the cooler things like restaurants and stuff

Cuz I feel like I don’t get get to do that enough but um I think it it’ll get better though for so with basketball of course comes the fame the endorsements you have to work with Jumpman you get to work with Oakley how have you been able

To still manage that Fame and the endorsements but keep levelheaded and still focus on playing basketball well I think you know more of it I wouldn’t even give most of the credit to myself I give it to you know my circle my team who I have around me just them allowing

Me to kind of keep my my mind on basketball keep my mind on you know what I need to do to be the best player I can be um you know I I have a great team that helps me with all that stuff and kind of distributes it around evenly to

Where I’m not you know doing too much at once or you know doing you know too much over a period of time uh let me relax and you know kind of keep my keep my peace so it’s good it’s a great you know teamwork it definitely takes team work

But um and it’s definitely a lot of learning too you know just learning you have other obligations and endorsements are are great opportunities but you got to be able to you know show up and with a smile on your face and be able to work

Just as you do um on with your team with the brand and with the with the business so um it’s been a lot of learning but you know I enjoy it is it fun is like do you enjoy these endorsements everything super fun like just people you know

People going you know in the mall you know they’ll go to the mall it be anywhere and they’ll send me a picture of my face in the Oakley store or uh you know something like that it’s always crazy to me but um you know it’s a

Blessing and it is a lot of fun so have you been able to just kind of like sit back and realize like you get to live this life you get to enjoy it and just everything that comes with it have you have you even taken that in yet or are

You just so locked in uh there’s some moments where I feel like I am just super locked in and I forget but I think really um this this first offseason for me uh gave me some time to sit back and and take it all in and enjoy um and and

Just reminisce on some of the stuff I’ve been able to do um cuz from that point where you leave College to through your rookie year it’s like no stops no breaks so you don’t really get a lot of time but I think my first offseason I got

Some time to really you know sit down and think about it but no it’s it’s a dream come true like it’s it’s what I dream to do my whole life um you know I really never thought I was going to do anything else besides you know either

NFL or NBA one of the two so you know just when you plan your whole life to get here and you’re able to do it it’s it’s something really special but you know obviously I have a lot more that I want to accomplish and that I’m still

Working towards NFL that is the goal my dad played football um I started playing football almost as soon as I started playing basketball so um I I I would I wouldn’t it wouldn’t be a lie to say that football might have been my first love growing up uh I just got too tall

You got too tall and then they were like all right we got to switch we got to figure this out now growing up did you ever watch did you ever get that Slam Magazine stuff like did you ever look at so how did it feel to know that you got

To be on the cover and be a part of that I mean that had to be such a surreal moment for you yeah that was that was awesome uh my first time being in college actually was the first time I got put on Slam and then obviously one

More um after the uh my rookie season and that’s crazy you know just growing up with my friends and you know family mother who all Lov basketball you know we call slam like that’s like the basketball Bible that’s that’s what we call it so just to be able to be on the

Cover of that um have those covers be able to live on forever and get to show you know friends family maybe kids one day like it’s just awesome and um you know I kind of I have them I have them stored away somewhere safe to where you

Know if I ever want to pull them out and show them I can that’s cool that is so awesome not only did you guys did you get to Grace slam but you got to be invited to the Louis Vuitton men’s springwear and I thought that was cool

Because I felt like you were kind of being able to show your fashion side and mix that in what was that experience like for you that was a eye openening experience um I had never really been around that industry or been around that just world of of fashion and uh I

Learned a lot you know being at a fashion show I always thought fashion shows were like I don’t know why I always thought they were like this 2hour event yeah and they’re really like 15 20 minutes and it’s just the walk you see the stuff the clothes and the collection

Then it’s over so just being there and um getting to travel and uh meet new people um designers other celebrities and stuff like that like it was just eye opening and a blessing um you know like I said I have a great team that kind of

Put me in position to be there and obviously I like you know clothes and fashion so to uh get to experience that was awesome is that kind of like the vibe you were you’re think you want to grow into is being able to express your fashion being able to go to these events

And still being able to combine it because you see LeBron do it you see other big names do it and be able to merge those are you kind of thinking that that’s kind of maybe a role like a an area you would like to be a part of

Or be in that world a little bit yeah I think so I I wouldn’t say I’m maybe not too heavily invested but like I’ve always liked to put on nice clothes you know mix and match try different stuff out and I think you know fashion is a

Great way to express yourself um through your clothes and through what you wear and um I think you know Sports and fashion have become just like huge Partners um lately and I think you know like the NBA at the tunnel walks and you know League fits and like that’s a whole

Um entity in its own like it’s a it’s a whole other business so when you’re able to combine those two and use both to your advantage obviously basketball is the main focus but you know who knows you might put on outfit or there’s been a couple guys who you go viral just off

Of what you wore before the game or after or on the sidelines so um it’s definitely something that you want to tap into and just play around with you know I read that like you know your first preseason game you were so nervous do you still get nervous playing do you

Still have those Jitters not the same as that first preseason game cuz that was like real nerves you know I didn’t know how I was going to play what I was going to do like what was going to happen but I definitely still get that same kind of

Anxious like butterflies in my stomach type feeling um every game you know no matter if it’s home or on the road um in Orlando in another country like whenever I get a chance to play basketball you know in a big arena in front of a lot of

Fans I always you know feel some type of way and um it’s just a feeling that you know it’s it’s not uncomfortable but it’s like unsettling to where it just it makes you want to just go out there and perform every night you know you never I

Never go into a game like you know not excited or or bored or you know it’s always kind of unsettling like not knowing how the game’s going to go you’re always confident but you never know what’s going to happen so um that’s the feeling that kind of just drives me

Every game you know I hear they say like if you stop getting nervous then you’re not you’re not looking to like continue to get better you’re stagnant no I’m definitely like a a big butterflies guy like you know no matter how cool I play it like when that national anthem was

Going and we lined up like always get some butterflies that’s awesome and then to know that now you’re in a position well you were already but like you’re in a bigger position where kids are looking up to you they see you they want to be

Like you they want to play like you they want to have hairstyles like you what does it feel like now to kind of be that guy um that kids look up to and who was the guy that you looked up to it’s crazy um just being the age I am now you know

I remember it doesn’t even seem like long ago being a kid just you know being on social media or watching basketball games and you know aspiring to be like you know the players that I play against today um and so it’s crazy when the rows are reversed and I’m the one who kids

Are looking at now and you know I went to Tatum Jason Tatum had a camp and I went to his camp and I had really been around high school kids um like these these next classes coming up I just haven’t spent time around them so going

To the camp and seeing like how much these kids look up to me and you know they want to be around me they want to hear what I got to say they want to ask me for advice like it just hit me super hard cuz like I that was me like four or

Five years ago so um it’s it’s it’s awesome though like it’s where I want to be and you know I I have to pay forward to them because you know a lot of guys paid it forward to me so I kind of feel that obligation but um no like you said

A lot of lot of those guys um Carmelo LeBron those were like my two like main favorites my whole life um but like a lot of guys from Seattle obviously I’m from Seattle so Jamal Crawford you know he reached out from a young age and was

Always there for me um along with the countless others that that helped me along the way so um it’s been a lot of guys I’ve looked up to and you know I’ve either watched from a distance or watched up close on it’s just how to uh

Carry myself how to kind of do this thing thanks Pa thank you

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