Orlando Magic rookie Paolo Banchero went through quite a shooting slump during the month of February, and the No. 1 pick recently offered an explanation.
Banchero notably struggled to shoot from distance in February, going 1-of-33 (3%) in 11 games. He managed to average 16.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists and earned the Rookie of the Month honor in the Eastern Conference, though. He was second in rookies in scoring.
The 20-year-old revealed Thursday on “The Ryen Russillo” podcast that he played with nerve damage in his neck in February, which led to his shooting slump.
No one really knows this, it is my first time really saying it but I had nerve damage that was in my neck and it went through down my whole right arm. The injury happened, I think, in the last game of January (against Philadelphia) and so the whole February, my whole right arm was kind of messed up. I don’t want to blame that as the whole reason why I went 1-for-33 but people see that and 3% is crazy.
I do attribute it to that injury and once I got that out of the way and once February passed, everything went back up. I got my arm healthy. I did a lot of work on my nerves to try and get it right. I got through it by staying down. I had played a good season the whole way leading up to that so I didn’t really lose confidence, it was just trying to be more efficient. I knew I was going to get through it. I wasn’t too worried.
The revelation is the first mention of any sort of injury that may have plagued Banchero during that period. He played through it without missing any time; the former Duke All-American has missed only seven games due to injury (Nov. 9-21, ankle).
He has seemingly put those struggles behind him. Since March 1, Banchero is averaging 20.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists on 38.7% shooting from 3-point range on 3.6 attempts per game. He is the top rookie scorer in the NBA over that time.
Banchero is the front-runner to win Rookie of the Year after averaging 20 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists. He leads the rookie class in a number of key categories, including points, field goals per game (6.7), free throws (5.5) and 30-point games (6).
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