{"id":610694,"date":"2026-02-19T01:10:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/610694\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T01:10:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:10:19","slug":"orlando-magic-react-to-latest-franz-wagner-injury-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/610694\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic react to latest Franz Wagner injury update"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Magic<\/a> hit the court inside Golden 1 Center in Sacramento<\/a> for their first practice following the NBA All-Star break<\/a> on Wednesday ahead of Thursday\u2019s game against the Kings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hours earlier, Orlando<\/a> shared that Franz Wagner<\/a> will be out indefinitely as he continues to experience soreness in his left ankle stemming from a high ankle sprain suffered Dec. 7 against the Knicks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the third time Wagner will miss games because of the injury that\u2019s already kept him out of 25 contests. The team said he\u2019ll be re-evaluated in approximately three weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important \u2014 his ability to get it all the way right where he\u2019s not trying to be in, then out, and then the soreness continues to get to him,\u201d Magic coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a> said about Wagner\u2019s injury. \u201cJust making sure it\u2019s right \u2026 It\u2019s the long haul for him. It\u2019s the long part of his career that we\u2019re looking at more than anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe care about these guys and make sure they (are) fully physically-able to play when they step on the court,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Avoiding Wagner being in and out of games, however, is something the Magic have already failed to do.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-10 forward first missed 16 games (Dec. 9-Jan. 11) due to the initial injury. He returned for\u00a0Orlando\u2019s pair of contests against the Grizzlies in his hometown of Berlin on Jan. 15 and again played three days later in London.<\/p>\n

Upon returning back from Europe, however, he sat out the next nine games (Jan. 22-Feb. 7) while managing lingering soreness from the injury. Wagner then made his way back a second time while coming off the bench on a strict minutes restriction in Orlando\u2019s pair of home games against the Bucks ahead of the league break.<\/p>\n

Recent imaging confirmed Wagner requires additional time and rehabilitation before returning to full basketball activities, the team said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that he\u2019s kind of come back twice, has been out and then has to be out again,\u201d teammate Paolo Banchero<\/a> said Wednesday. \u201cSo, we just want him to take his time, however long that is, and get all the way healthy because we don\u2019t want him out there if he\u2019s not feeling like himself. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing, just letting him take his time to get healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Wagner has been available, he\u2019s served as a difference maker for Orlando.<\/p>\n

The Magic are 12-13 without him this season and 16-12 with him.<\/p>\n

In 28 games, Wagner has averaged 21.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals during 31.8 minutes per night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of our key pieces of our team,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cWe need him out there but at the same time, we don\u2019t want him coming back before he\u2019s ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Mosley: \u201cThere aren\u2019t words to describe what Franz means to this team. His toughness, his resiliency, his desire and want to get back on the court \u2026 Every person on this team knows his work ethic and his care factor for this group.\u201d<\/p>\n

If anyone in the Magic locker room understands the need to take the proper time to recover from an injury, it\u2019s Moe Wagner<\/a>. The older brother of Franz, the Magic center took more than a year before returning from a torn left ACL suffered last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all it sucks because he\u2019s my brother and we have a pretty high-level relationship,\u201d Moe Wagner said after practice. \u201cHe\u2019s obviously not happy with it. He\u2019s struggling emotionally and all of that stuff. You hate to see that for a family member.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously for us as players it\u2019s big too because he has such a big impact on the game, but primarily I care more about the person and I feel very bad for him,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

After facing the Kings on Thursday night, the Magic travel to Phoenix on Saturday before wrapping up their four-game West Coast trip against the Clippers and Lakers in Los Angeles. Orlando then returns for a four-game homestand that starts Feb. 26 against Houston.<\/p>\n

The Magic will be without Franz Wagner for all eight of those games and likely more. Three weeks from Wednesday is March 11, meaning he\u2019ll miss the next 10 contests before he\u2019s re-evaluated.<\/p>\n

With only 29 games remaining in the regular season, the Magic know it\u2019ll be up to themselves to remain afloat in the East playoff race as Wagner works to return again.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely put together some great games here on the road trip, get some wins and just get ready for this push,\u201d Banchero said when asked how the team wants to attack the final stretch of the regular season. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to win some games (and) got to put ourselves in a good position for the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big stretch right here that we\u2019re about to go down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic at Kings<\/p>\n

When:\u00a010 p.m., Thursday, Golden 1 Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Magic hit the court inside Golden 1 Center in Sacramento for their first practice following the NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,165,6,76,1412,80939,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-610694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-orlando-magic","12":"tag-social","13":"tag-social-sports","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116094634992120483","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}