HILLBOROUGH, N.C. — The charge Paolo Banchero faced from his involvement in a Duke basketball teammate’s drunk driving arrest last November has been dropped.
Orange County prosecutors dismissed the aiding and abetting impaired driving charge against Banchero, the No. 1 pick in last month’s NBA draft, after Michael Savarino pleaded guilty on Wednesday to DWI.
The move is standard procedure once Savarino cooperated with the case. Retired Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s grandson, Savarino pleaded guilty to DWI as part of a plea agreement that saw charges of driving after consuming alcohol while under 21 and not stopping at a stop sign dismissed.
Orange County assistant district attorney Maren Hardin, in an email to The News & Observer, said in these cases it is “not unusual for a person charged with aiding and abetting DWI to have his or her charge dismissed upon the disposition of the principal’s DWI.”
The 6-10 Banchero led Duke in scoring (17.8 points) and rebounding (7.8) as a freshman last season when the Blue Devils went 32-7, won the ACC regular-season championship and made the school’s first Final Four since 2015. The Orlando Magic selected him with the top pick in the NBA draft.
Savarino, a former walk-on, graduated from Duke this year and is completing his basketball career at New York University while in graduate school.
The charge Banchero faced stemmed from an Nov. 14, 2021 incident where Savarino, who was 20 years old at the time, was pulled over by N.C. Highway Patrol in rural Orange County for rolling through a stop sign at 1:10 a.m. Savarino was driving a 2017 Jeep SUV, registered to Banchero, at the intersection of Bushy Cook Road and West Ten Road near Efland.
The officer reported observing signs of impairment, namely a “strong odor of alcohol” and “red glassy eyes.” Savarino admitted to having consumed alcohol and was administered a field sobriety test. The officer gave him a “poor” report on that test.
Savarino was taken into custody and took a breathalyzer test, completed at 2:38 a.m. It showed a blood alcohol content of .08. When driving a motor vehicle, the limit is .08 in North Carolina.
Banchero, police said, was riding in the back seat and was charged with aiding and abetting impaired driving since the vehicle was registered to him.
