Paolo Banchero Gets A Humbling Experience

Being a rookie in any sport is bound to be taxing. First you have to deal with the transition itself, getting used to playing at an elite level. Second, there’s no where to hide because the worst player in any league is a superb athlete or, at the least, immensely disciplined. And third, there is rookie hazing.

For Duke’s Paolo Banchero, this play is a mix of all of that.

Playing now in the “Zeke-End” pro-am tournament, held by Isaiah Thomas (we think the younger, more recent Thomas) in Tacoma, Banchero found himself up against new Atlanta Hawk Dejounte Murray, also a native of Seattle.

There’s no other way to put it - Murray embarrassed Banchero on this play.

But afterwards, they had some back and forth on social media, with Banchero pushing back with this:

“lol unfollowed me on tha gram n everything It must be personal huh? that’s fine jus make sure u guard up next time n stop sending doubles family

Quite honestly, we don’t know what that last bit means.

Murray went right at him, saying this:

“You Tried To Flex That #1 Pick Shit On Me When I Been Rooting For You When You Was A Kid Asking To Rebound For Me @paolo5 Don’t Get On This Internet Saying Nothing... You Changed From The Humble Kid You Always Was And I Stand On Real Shit Boy And YOU KNOW!!!!!!!! You Made It And Changed And I Lost All Respect!! Stay Humble. This Life You In Now Is REAL And Ain’t No Joke!!! I STILL WANNA SEE YOU WIN Cause That’s WHO I AM!!!”

So needless to say, the first game between Orlando and Atlanta should get interesting.