Paolo Banchero
The Pioneer
The frontier and an appetite for the unknown, goes first.
Paolo Banchero reads as The Pioneer, a first-mover who carries the weight of firstness deliberately. He speaks of being Rainier Beach's first NBA player, of grinding alone in a locked-down Seattle gym through COVID isolation, and of writing down high school career goals that included Rookie of the Year. His clear-eyed reckoning with celebrity at Duke, knowing every party appearance would be recorded, marks a leader building something larger than his own arrival.
“I got a list of goals in my phone that I made like a junior senior high school, just rolled down everything I could think of that I wanted to do in my career, and the rookie year was one of them.”
“Just trying to show kids from Seattle and wherever else, Tacoma, you can get to wherever you want to get to.”
“I was in there and we just grinded for like that whole COVID. From marching my junior year till before I left for school, that's where I was every day getting better.”
Knuckleheads with Quentin Richardson & Darius Miles: “Paolo Banchero”
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