Orlando Magic No. 1 Pick Paolo Banchero Competing in Hometown Seattle Pro-Am League
ORLANDO - When Paolo Banchero suits up for the Orlando Magic this season, he'll play his home games over 2,500 miles from his hometown of Seattle.
Moving a far distance isn't foreign to Banchero, who played his college basketball at Duke in Durham, N.C., but Seattle is a place that Banchero holds close to his heart.
And Banchero's a player who wears a heart on his sleeve ... quite literally.
Banchero has a large tattoo of the Space Needle and Mount Rainier on his shoulder along with other local landmarks down his arm.
“I carry [Seattle] with me everywhere I go. Seattle is always going to be in me and a part of me,” Banchero said in an interview with SLAM Magazine. “Part of my mission is to try to put Seattle on the map and get us as much recognition as I can.”
Banchero will help put Seattle on the map by participating in Seattle's biggest Pro-Am tournament, The Crawsover.
The Crawsover, founded by 20-year NBA veteran and Seattle native Jamal Crawford, kicked off this past weekend but is expected to feature some NBA vets in the coming weeks.
Banchero is expected to play for Team Real Ballers alongside NBA All-Star and the newest member of the Atlanta Hawks, Dejounte Murray.
Other NBA players expected to participate in the league are Kevin Porter Jr., Tari Eason (Houston Rockets), Jalen McDaniels, Jaylen Nowell (Minnesota Timberwolves), Bogdan Bogdanovic (Atlanta Hawks), Malachi Flynn (Toronto Raptors), Isaiah Thomas (free agent) and MarJon Beauchamp (Milwaukee Bucks).
