Paolo Banchero may be Duke royalty now, but growing up, the Orlando Magic star had a soft spot for the enemy.
The former No. 1 overall pick — one of five Blue Devils to hold that honor and a path Cooper Flagg could soon follow — admitted he actually liked North Carolina as a kid.
“I ain’t gonna lie, growing up, I actually liked the Tar Heels a little bit,” Banchero said on “The Pivot.” “I can’t lie because my Rotary team, my elementary through high school AAU team, is Carolina blue colors. So, that was my colors I wore playing so we always liked Carolina. And my mom, she also had a player that she coached in high school go on to play at North Carolina.”
Before becoming an NBA All-Star, Banchero earned second-team consensus All-American honors and was named ACC Rookie of the Year at Duke during the 2021-22 season. The former five-star prospect helped lead the Blue Devils to the Final Four, where they fell to UNC, 81-77, in the final game of legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career.
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“There were some ties there to North Carolina,” Banchero said. “But I ended up being a Blue Devils. I’m proud to be a Blue Devil.”
Banchero rated as the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2021 class coming out of Seattle (Wash.) O Dea. He held numerous offers with visits to Duke, Gonzaga, Kentucky, UNC and Tennessee. The McDonald’s All-American committed to the Blue Devils in August 2020 before signing that November.
After a stellar one-and-done season at Duke, Banchero declared for the 2022 NBA Draft and was selected No. 1 overall by Orlando in a somewhat surprising move. Ironically, he…
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