LOS ANGELES — Orlando Magic ahead Franz Wagner is the reigning Japanese Convention Participant of the Week, the eighth decide of the 2021 NBA Draft and within the remaining yr of his rookie deal earlier than a five-year, $224 million extension kicks in. However he isn’t precisely a family identify but. This week, The Athletic requested him how he would describe his recreation to individuals who haven’t seen him play.
“I don’t know if there’s somebody who I might say I play actually near,” mentioned the 23-year-old German who watched Corridor of Famer Dirk Nowitzki rising up. “I feel I’m positively like a tall guard, I might say that. I’m a fringe participant, however fairly tall. I attempt to do loads of totally different stuff on the market. And I hope while you see me play, you see that I’m having enjoyable and play for the suitable causes. That’s what I hope individuals see after they see me play.”
Folks may even see a star — and staff — on the rise. That was evident Thursday night time, when Wagner drained a game-winning 3 over Los Angeles Lakers wing Cam Reddish to offer Orlando a 119-118 win, the Magic’s seventh victory of their previous eight video games.
FRANZ CALLS GAME@franzboogie https://t.co/KIkC3lwYLt pic.twitter.com/0yat4TOPa1
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) November 22, 2024
“He’s on the prime of the important thing, and I’m wanting,” Jalen Suggs mentioned of Orlando’s remaining possession with the ball in Wagner’s palms. “Now we have a man on every wing and usually you need to minimize one out, so you will have area to drive. He acquired to the purpose the place I didn’t need to minimize and mess up his spacing, so I simply stared at him and mentioned, ‘You bought to hit it.’”
That’s precisely what Wagner did, capping off a 37-point, 10-assist efficiency. Much more spectacular, Orlando’s current scorching streak has come with out All-Star ahead Paolo Banchero, who tore his indirect Oct. 30 in opposition to the Chicago Bulls and has been sidelined ever since. The Magic dropped to 3-6 at one level, however thanks largely to Wagner, they’ve turned issues round.
Throughout this two-week stretch the place Orlando has received seven of eight video games, Wagner is averaging 28.1 factors, 6.9 assists, 2.1 steals and a couple of.6 3s per recreation. In opposition to the Lakers, Wagner had a career-high 11 assists, and he had a season-high 4 steals for the second straight night time. He’s been doing all of it whereas enjoying up a place at energy ahead, with rookie first-round decide Tristan da Silva beginning at small ahead with Banchero out.
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“I feel it’s extra about who handles the ball on pick-and-roll and stuff like that, that’s at all times a giant key,” Wagner mentioned Wednesday of his tasks with or with out Banchero on the ground. “I really feel like I’ve simply been doing extra of what I used to be requested earlier than somewhat bit with Paolo out. Nevertheless it hasn’t actually been that large of a change, actually.”
Wagner, listed at 6-foot-10, 220 kilos (though he insists he’s larger: “230! Put somewhat extra on, 230! Working!”), has at all times performed a flexible offensive position for Orlando. He and Banchero have been the first ballhandlers final season, when the Magic made the postseason for the primary time in 4 years. Orlando nonetheless ran its offense by means of Banchero to start the season, though Suggs and 2023 lottery decide Anthony Black got extra duty in October. With Banchero out although, Wagner’s touches per recreation went from 46.4 in October to 72.2 in November.
Along with creating for himself and others, Wagner stays a pointy off-ball participant. His 3-point shot, as much as an appropriate 35 % this season, has come round after a forgettable yr final season. However Wagner has at all times been a pointy cutter, persistently using his mixture of dimension and agility to current himself as an attractive goal.
Wagner’s offensive contributions are essential, particularly for a Magic staff that ranked twenty second in offensive effectivity final season and has dropped to twenty fifth this season. It was ironic that the Magic beat the Lakers with 3-point taking pictures on condition that the Magic are the least correct 3-point taking pictures staff within the league this season at 30.9 %.
However Orlando is a successful staff due to the way it defends. The Magic enable 105.2 factors per 100 possessions, rating behind solely the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder and Houston Rockets. Orlando is the one Japanese Convention protection ranked within the prime eight. And the Magic are arguably probably the most bodily protection within the league, with a roster that prioritizes positional dimension.
“That’s one thing that the coaches put loads of emphasis on, and we take loads of satisfaction on as a staff,” Wagner mentioned of Orlando’s physicality. “Coming into the season, even final season, in coaching camp, it’s most likely some stuff that needs to be a foul. We don’t actually name that stuff in apply. And I feel it simply turns into a behavior. And I feel over the course of the season, the form of mindset … they’re not going to name each single foul, you already know what I imply? So it’s arduous to try this for 82 video games. However I feel we do a fairly good job of enjoying actually arduous each recreation.”
Along with Wagner, the 6-10, 250-pound Banchero and 6-8 da Silva as forwards, Orlando has three helpful facilities in 270-pound Wendell Carter Jr. (at present injured), 6-11, 245-pound Moritz Wagner (Franz’s brother) and 6-10, 250-pound fill-in starter Goga Bitadze. The purpose guards are 6-5 Suggs (who nonetheless defends like a soccer participant) and the 6-7 Black. The bench options 210-pound guard Gary Harris, 6-6 2023 lottery decide Jett Howard and 6-10 energy ahead Jonathan Isaac. Probably the most “common” starter when it comes to dimension could also be two-time NBA champion Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a 6-5, 204-pound taking pictures guard who, at age 31, is the oldest participant within the rotation.
All that youth and dimension permits the Magic to steer the NBA in fewest second-chance factors allowed, rank second in defensive rebound proportion and factors within the paint allowed and fourth in opponent turnover proportion. The Magic misplaced to the LA Clippers on Wednesday however compelled 25 turnovers within the recreation.
It is a continuation of how the Magic got here to prominence final season, after they received 47 video games and completed fifth within the East. Solely the Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics have been higher defensively than Orlando in 2023-24. That was the primary time since 2010-11 that the Magic had a top-five protection. The widespread threads this season and final season have featured cons comparable to a excessive foul fee (twenty fourth in opponent free-throw try fee final season, twenty second this season) but additionally professionals comparable to permitting a low variety of 3s (Orlando ranked fourth in fewest 3s allowed final season and ranks third this season).
To observe an Orlando recreation shouldn’t be for the faint of coronary heart. The Magic rank twenty fifth in tempo this season and have by no means ranked greater than twenty fourth in factors per recreation in coach Jamahl Mosley’s 4 seasons. They common 106.8 factors per recreation, rating forward of solely the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Orleans Pelicans. No staff permits fewer factors per recreation (103.2) than Orlando. The Clippers are the one different staff within the NBA that doesn’t rating or enable no less than 110 factors.
“First one to 80,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue mentioned earlier than Wednesday’s recreation in opposition to the Magic, referring to how tough he anticipated the sport to go offensively for each groups.
Mosley mentioned his gamers have “purchased into precisely how we need to play.”
“I don’t know if we’re probably the most bodily staff within the league,” mentioned Mosley, who was the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Mavericks previous to taking the Orlando job in 2021. “The movie exhibits lots. We watch movie, we watch the hits, we watch the protection, we watch how we get into the basketball. How we are attempting to do it greatest with out fouling. Probably not a quantity on it, greater than something, however I feel it’s actually our skill to observe it and see it and know precisely what we’re making an attempt to remove, what we’re making an attempt to power.”
With a 10-7 document, Orlando is true round the place it was final season, with an actual shot at home-court benefit within the first spherical of the playoffs. Wagner’s robust play with Banchero out of the lineup, mixed with the Magic being one in all solely 4 groups within the East with a successful document, offers Wagner an actual likelihood at making his first All-Star look. There’s extra work to be carried out, however Wagner is happy with the place he and his staff are proper now — and that was earlier than he referred to as recreation on the Lakers.
“I feel I’m enjoying fairly nicely,” Wagner mentioned Wednesday night time. “It’s a brand new state of affairs for me. So I simply attempt to take it as a problem and attempt to develop from it. And, you already know, attempt to do my greatest on the market each recreation.”
(Picture of Franz Wagner and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: Julio Aguilar / Getty Photographs)
