Las Vegas – The Orlando Magic made their played their first game in the NBA Summer League and prevailed over the Houston Rockets, 91-77.
The top 2022 NBA draft pick Paolo Banchero impressed tallying 17 points, six assists, four rebounds and dropped two triples.
On the other hand, Jabari Smith struggled to get his groove at the beginning of the game but was able to finish with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Prior to the draft, Banchero was projected by most mock drafts to be the third overall pick by the Houston Rockets but the Orlando Magic had a last minute change of heart to get the Duke Blue Devils standout.
Heading into this rookie matchup, Banchero admits that he wanted to prove that he is worthy of the top overall pick outside of getting acquainted with his teammates.
“I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder,” said Banchero during the post-game interview. “But that wasn’t my whole mindset. I wanted to come out and get the win, get used to play the guys, it was out first summer league game and we try to win every game. So, that was the start of the whole summer league season for us.”
Leading the Magic in scoring was Caleb Houston with 20 points along with six boards while Devin Cannady had 15 markers. RJ Hampton finished with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds for Orlando.
Josh Christopher was the Rockets’ best scorer doing 22 points while Tari Easton had a strong performance with 41 points and 13 boards.
