The Orlando Magic surprised the NBA world on the night of the 2022 NBA Draft when they used their No. 1 pick on Duke’s Paolo Banchero. But it turned out to be the right decision as Banchero has just been named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year for the 2022-23 season.
Banchero took home the ROY honors almost unanimously, receiving 98 out of 100 first-place votes and amassing a total of 494 points. Oklahoma City Thunder’s Jalen Williams was second with 241 points, while Utah Jazz’s Walker Kessler, who received the remaining two first-place votes, finished third with 114 votes.
Banchero averaged 20.0 points per game this season, leading all rookies while also adding 6.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 72 games played. He became the third ROY award recipient in the history of the Magic franchise, joining Shaquille O’Neal, who won it in 1992-93, and Mike Miller, who received the honors in 2000-01. Curiously, Miller currently serves as Banchero’s agent.
“It means a lot to me,” Banchero told reporters on Wednesday. “Towards the end of my high school career, I started to kind of put my eyes on the NBA, so I made a lot of goals that I wanted to achieve, and Rookie of the Year was one of them.”
