Orlando Magic double down on legendary Paolo Banchero moment while congratulating Patrick Mahomes
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Paolo Banchero is now a three-time Super Bowl champion after the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 25-22, in Super Bowl LVIII Sunday.
Wait, what? You might be asking yourself that very question after reading that sentence. And you’d be correct. No, Banchero is not a three-time Super Bowl champion, *just* the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in his second year in the association. We’re just not sure if Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle is aware by now that Banchero is, in fact, not Patrick Mahomes.
After all, who could forget the hilarious moment at the Formula One Miami Grand Prix in May 2022 when Brundle mistakenly thought he was interviewing Mahomes, only for it to turn out to be Banchero. At the time, Banchero had just wrapped up his lone season at Duke and was just over a month away from being the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. And so, it’s fair if Brundle didn’t quite know who Banchero was at the time.
But that doesn’t mean the Magic were gonna let it slide. After the Chiefs won the Super Bowl last year, Orlando’s social media team posted a photo of Brundle interviewing Banchero with the caption, “congrats patrick.” They doubled down this year, posting another photo of Brundle and Banchero, this time from the Miami Grand Prix in 2023 when the two reunited and corrected the blunder from the prior year.
Patrick Mahomes chasing more championships after winning No. 3
It’s all in good fun of course, and who knows, maybe one day the post will read, “congrats paolo.” The 21-year-old’s NBA career is off to a fast start, as he’s averaging 22.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game for the Magic, who at 29-24, sit sixth in the Eastern Conference standings.
Mahomes, meanwhile, continues to add to his already stacked résumé. Mahomes, at just 28 years old, has three Super Bowls, three Super Bowl MVPs and two league MVPs to his name. He is the face of the NFL’s newest dynasty, which doesn’t appear to be slowing down one bit.
“I mean, I’m gonna celebrate tonight. I’m gonna celebrate at the parade,” Mahomes said after the game. “And then I’m gonna do whatever I can to be back in this game next year and try to go for that three-peat. I think Tom [Brady] said it best – once you win that championship and you have those parades and you get those rings, you’re not the champion anymore. You have to come back with that same mentality, and I learned from guys like that that have been the greatest of all time at the top of the level.
“[We’re] gonna work our way to get back to this game next year.”