Paolo Banchero Interview

The Seattle Times has a long and interesting piece up on Paolo Banchero, who recently committed to Duke.

He talks here about a lot of things, including his relationship with Coach K and how K sees his role at Duke and beyond, comparing him to both LeBron James and Shane Battier.

He also talks about how Nolan Smith and Krzyzewski’s commitment to social justice influenced his decision and relates a painful personal account of a run-in with a local deputy who ended up pulling his gun on Banchero and a friend, who of course were just teenagers.

In the civil suit that followed, the King County Sheriff’s Office made a formal apology and agreed to pay $80,000, $20,000 of which went to Banchero.

There’s a lot wrong here but even the most charitable explanation can’t explain why the deputy chose to throw their car keys off into the distance when he realized he was in the wrong. Banchero says it took an hour to find them.

Banchero also talks about what it’s like to come of age as a ballplayer in the age of Covid and how he’s adjusting to that.

He also talked about aiming for next year’s draft but says if it doesn’t happen he’s fine with coming back.