{"id":612404,"date":"2026-02-19T21:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/612404\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T21:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:45:14","slug":"paolo-banchero-urges-patience-with-franz-wagner-amid-ankle-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/612404\/","title":{"rendered":"Paolo Banchero urges patience with Franz Wagner amid ankle injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orlando Magic will return from All-Star weekend<\/a> facing renewed adversity.<\/p>\n

With a road matchup against the Sacramento Kings (12-44) scheduled for Thursday night at 10:00 p.m. ET, Orlando (28-25) will move forward without star forward Franz Wagner, who has been ruled out indefinitely<\/a> as he continues to recover from soreness related to a left high ankle sprain.<\/p>\n

Speaking at Thursday\u2019s practice, Paolo Banchero<\/a> emphasized patience<\/a> as Wagner works toward a full recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean he\u2019s one of our key pieces of our team and you know we need him out there but at the same time we don\u2019t want him coming back before he\u2019s ready and so it\u2019s unfortunate,\u201d Banchero said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, he\u2019s kinda came back twice and been out and then had to be out again so just want him to take his time \u2013 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. So, I think that\u2019s the biggest thing is just let him take his time to get healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paolo Banchero, Jamahl Mosley<\/a> highlight Franz Wagner\u2019s value beyond the box score<\/p>\n

Wagner, 24, is in his fifth NBA season and remains a central figure in Orlando\u2019s offense. Across 28 games, he is averaging 21.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals per contest while shooting 47.9% from the field and 36.5% from 3-point range in 31.8 minutes per game.<\/p>\n

Head coach Jamahl Mosley underscored Wagner\u2019s value beyond the box score, pointing to his work ethic and leadership within the locker room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean there aren\u2019t words that describe what Franz means to this team, his toughness, his resilience, his desire and want to get back on to the court,\u201d Mosley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery person on this team knows his work ethic and his care factor for this group. There aren\u2019t many words that can describe it for this group, but also for him. I talked to him last night and his ability to want to just be on the floor and that\u2019s what is the hardest, but also understanding that he knows how capable this group is of achieving the things that we say we want to do even with him being out for this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Magic\u2019s Moritz Wagner opens up on brother Franz\u2019s emotional battle\"Orlando\u00a9 Bill Streicher-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Wagner\u2019s absence also carries a personal dimension for teammate and brother Moritz Wagner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean first of all it sucks because he\u2019s my brother and you have a pretty high level relationship and he\u2019s obviously not happy with it and he\u2019s struggling emotionally and all that stuff, so everything that comes with it,\u201d Moritz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hate to see that for a family member. Obviously for us as players, 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<\/p>\n

Moritz added that recovery extends beyond physical rehabilitation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my biggest advice is and what I\u2019ve learned is that it only heals if you\u2019re emotionally free and peaceful and relaxed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t fight it everyday so having a time frame in which you\u2019re doing your rehab rather than a day by day structure is much more peaceful for the mind and much more efficient for the body to heal, and I think he\u2019s been embracing that for the last couple of days and we\u2019ll see in three weeks. But kind of having that time to relax [the] mind and let the body do it\u2019s work and then be ready when you\u2019re ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Orlando begins the final stretch of the regular season, the organization has made clear its priority is ensuring Wagner returns at full strength rather than rushing him back before he is ready.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orlando Magic will return from All-Star weekend facing renewed adversity. With a road matchup against the Sacramento…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,403,2684,48,10369,8163,6,47,76,3883,402],"class_list":["post-612404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando-magic","tag-basketball","tag-franz-wagner","tag-jamahl-mosley","tag-magic","tag-mini-editorials","tag-moe-wagner","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlandomagic","tag-paolo-banchero"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116099491073253445","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612404","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=612404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}