Magic secure future of Paolo Banchero with max rookie extension, as much as $287 million

Jason Beede, Orlando Sentinel on Jul 7, 2025

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Magic forward Paolo Banchero agreed to sign a five-year, $239 million rookie max extension on Monday, a league source told the Orlando Sentinel.

The contract could be worth as much as $287 million, ESPN first reported, as Banchero is eligible to earn 30% of the team’s salary cap should he get voted to an All-NBA team this upcoming season.

The deal also includes a player option for Banchero ahead of the 2030-31 season, a league source said.

Counting this upcoming season, Orlando’s core of Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs are all now under contract for the next five years. In addition, the recently acquired Desmond Bane is under contract for the next four years.

The 2022 No. 1 draft pick already had his third- and fourth-year team options picked up by Orlando, and he entered this summer eligible for a rookie-scale extension.

Although the extension was agreed upon Monday, rookie-scale extensions can only be signed between 12:01 p.m. ET on the last day of the free agency moratorium period — Sunday — and through 6 p.m. on the day prior to the first day of the regular season (late October).

But there was no point in waiting any longer to secure Banchero’s future in Orlando.

The face of the franchise, Banchero already has the third-most 40-plus point games in Magic history with six in just three seasons.

This past season, however, was his toughest test. The 6-foot-10 forward played the fewest games of his young career (46) because of a torn right abdominal muscle injury suffered in late October that forced him to miss two-plus months.

Still, he and Wagner — who similarly signed a rookie max extension with the franchise last summer — became the first pair of Magic teammates to both average 20-plus points in a single season since Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway in 1995-96 and just the second duo in franchise history.

As Banchero worked past his in-season injury, he returned to All-Star form.

From Feb. 25-April 8, he scored 20-plus points in 20 consecutive games, which is the longest streak of his career and the sixth-longest streak in franchise history.

Banchero, and Wagner alike, don’t just want to record impressive scoring marks. They want to help Orlando win its first playoffs series in 15 years and make a postseason run last seen during the days of Dwight Howard.

Doing so won’t be easy. That’s why the Magic have altered their roster this summer by acquiring Bane, signing veteran guard Tyus Jones in free agency, drafting first- and second-round picks Jase Richardson and Noah Penda and bringing back reserve center Moe Wagner on a new deal.

These moves, alongside Banchero’s extension and the extensions of Wagner and Jalen Suggs a summer ago, come at a cost.

With Richardson, Penda, Jones and Wagner on contract, the franchise has 14 players signed to standard contracts.

Because the Magic are hard-capped at the first apron threshold under the league’s fairly new collective bargaining agreement ($195,945,000) following the Bane trade, Orlando likely won’t have enough financial space to fill the 15th standard roster spot this summer (unless they made a trade to free up salary).

The Magic still have a pair of two-way contracts available to help fill roster depth needs for the upcoming season.

Extending Banchero essentially caps off a significant summer for the future of the franchise. It was, perhaps, a no-brainer for both sides.

“I love it here,” Banchero said about Orlando in early May. “It’s a place that I love spending time, my family loves spending time here, and I couldn’t be more happy to be a part of the Orlando Magic.

“I look forward to spending a lot more years here.”

He moved closer to achieving that goal Monday.

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