According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Paolo Banchero is making his much-anticipated return from his torn oblique injury.

Thursday’s game is against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Friday’s is against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Orlando Magic have been without their young cornerstone player for 33 games.

Banchero has not played since October 30th. The 22-year-old averaged 29.0 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 5.6 assists in his five games.

The Magic are fourth in the Eastern Conference. Orlando is 22-16.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Orlando Magic and Jalen Suggs have come together for a three-year contract. The deal is worth $150.5 million.

There is no player or team option included in this deal, as Suggs is the fifth player to get an extension coming out of the 2021 draft.

The 23-year-old has been vocal about staying in Orlando and not changing teams. Orlando’s Media Day was the most recent time Suggs was vocal about his contract situation.

Last season was his best and most consistent season. Suggs averaged 12.6 points (career-high), 3.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.4 steals in 75 games.

In previous seasons, he was plagued by injury. However, as demonstrated last season, Suggs is a valuable asset to Orlando when not riddled with injuries.

According to the former first-overall pick, Paolo Banchero believes the Orlando Magic are “right there” with the “elite teams” of the Eastern Conference.

During a recent appearance on ESPN’s First Take show, Banchero said the Magic keeps getting better even after everyone thought it was a fluke during their early-on success.

“We feel like we’re right there,” he said. “We’re right there with all those (elite teams in the East). I remember last year, we started the year off as a top-two, top-three seed and everybody thought it was a fluke. Everybody thought we were going to be a play-in team and drop out the top of the East. We finished strong and got the fifth seed and had a chance to really grab the two seed at the end of the season.”

He continued by stating that Orlando has a chance to be the top team in the East.

“We were right there last year. We got better this year. I got better; all of us got better. We got some new pieces that are going to help a lot. We’re trying to make some noise. We should easily be a top-four, top-three team, and have a chance to win the East.”

With him saying all of this, the 21-year-old says that since the Magic took a chance on him, he feels a responsibility to take them to the highest levels. The highest levels most likely mean the NBA Finals.

“Orlando took a chance on me when they drafted me, and I am forever grateful for that,” said Banchero while appearing on ESPN’s First Take. “I give them my love and respect for that because nobody knew that I was going to go number one. I didn’t know I was going to go number one. So, they put the trust in me to take that chance and take me number one. After that, I felt like it was my job to help them reach heights that haven’t been reached in a long time … We’re trying to take (a huge) jump next year and keep taking it one level at a time. But we don’t want to stop any time soon. We want to keep going and eventually win a championship.”

Orlando finished 47-35 last season, landing fifth in the East. Don’t forget that this team went to round one of the postseason against the Cleveland Cavaliers. They lost in seven.