{"id":693238,"date":"2026-04-02T04:19:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/693238\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T04:19:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:19:00","slug":"franz-wagner-returns-goga-bitadze-ejected-in-magic-blowout-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/693238\/","title":{"rendered":"Franz Wagner returns, Goga Bitadze ejected in Magic blowout loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net<\/a><\/p>\n

The Orlando Magic<\/a>\u2019s playoff push faced a significant hurdle on Wednesday as they fell 130-101 to the Atlanta Hawks<\/a>, despite the long-awaited return of German star Franz Wagner<\/a> to the Kia Center.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old forward, who has battled a persistent left high ankle sprain that sidelined him for 47 of the team\u2019s last 51 games in the 2025-26 NBA Regular Season, started for Jamahl Mosley\u2019s squad and tallied 12 points, two assists, and one rebound in 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

His journey back has been arduous. After a stellar start to the season where he averaged 23.4 points and 6.2 rebounds, he suffered the injury in his 24th game. He admitted to previously rushing his recovery to play in his home country of Germany in mid-January, which led to a subsequent setback in February that ruled him out indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the mental toll of his absence during a postgame press conference, Wagner noted, \u201cBeing hurt sucks, obviously. Not being able to do what you love, and rehab can be pretty tough and boring at the same time. So, it can be taxing on the mind, and at the same time, you don\u2019t get the chance to prove yourself out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the frustration, the Berlin native remained optimistic about his 20-minute stint against Atlanta, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s definitely an adjustment, and it\u2019s gonna be, I think, part of the process, but it felt good to be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The game shifted during the second quarter, when the visitors exploded for 47 points. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re moving the ball really well, more stagnant possessions, a couple of turnovers,\u201d Wagner remarked regarding the defensive lapse.<\/p>\n

Fellow German option for the Magic, Tristan da Silva, impressed with nine points and six assists in 23 minutes, while Georgia\u2019s Goga Bitadze contributed four points and five rebounds before a Flagrant 2 foul on Jock Landale led to his fourth-quarter ejection. German center Moritz Wagner added two points in limited action, and France\u2019s Noah Penda recorded two assists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On the winning side, French reserve Zaccharie Risacher provided a versatile spark, finishing with four points, three rebounds, one block, and one steal.<\/p>\n

Read the latest News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net The Orlando Magic\u2019s playoff push faced a significant hurdle on Wednesday as they fell…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,48,6,47,76,3883],"class_list":{"0":"post-693238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-magic","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-magic","13":"tag-orlandomagic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116333195415714145","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693238","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=693238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}