What stands out in context is trust.
Down by two, with 18.9 seconds left, under the bright LA lights, Anthony Davis, a career 79.5% free-throw shooter who made 10 of his first 11 at the stripe in the first 47 minutes of the Magic-Lakers game, made a pair. give Orlando a chance to tie — or maybe, if you’re feeling on track, go for the win.
And these days? Brother, Franz Wagner is feeling myself.
Wagner calls guard Jalen Suggs on a ball screen, forces Davis to give up a shift and allows him to go one-on-one against Cam Reddish — still a big, athletic defender with long limbs, but nowhere near AD-level, and also, crucially , a few inches shorter than Franz himself. Rhythm dribble, tween-tween, straight to the step back – no hesitation, no second-guessing and no doubt.
Collects. Magic lead. And one stop later: Magic win.
Wagner made 41 stepback 3-pointers in his first 231 games over three NBA seasons, shooting 33.1% on those impressive long-range looks. When Wagner poked Reddish’s eye Thursday, it was his 10th of 23 attempts (43.5%) in 17 games this season — the most consistent and loudest, and the one that points to the hurdle he’s had to jump.
The German striker entered the summer with a bitter taste in his mouth. On the one hand, he put together his strongest season as a pro, averaging 19.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game for a Magic team that surprisingly won 47 games and made the playoffs for the first time in four years. off. On the other hand, he ended the campaign with a whimper, capping a season-long shooting slump — just 28.1% from 3-point range, the worst mark from long range among the 181 players who hit at least 200 long balls — 1-for-15 from the field and 0-for-5 from deep in Game 7 of Orlando’s opening round loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The downward spiral from long range continued into the 2024 Paris Olympics. While Wagner starred for his country, averaging 18.5 points per game and leading Germany to the semifinals and eventual fourth-place finish, he made just seven of his 35 attempts from the shorter FIBA 3-point arc. . The consistent inconsistency has made the status of his flashy jumper — one that was league-average during his rookie and sophomore seasons — looming as one of the biggest questions for a Magic team in desperate need of more shots and offensive firepower.
That need became even more desperate on Halloween when Wagner’s All-Star frontcourt partner Paolo Banchero, fresh off a breakout 50-point performance, was diagnosed with a torn oblique that will sideline him for the foreseeable future. Suddenly, doubt was a luxury Orlando could not afford; for the Magic to stay afloat without their leader in points, assists, touches and time of possession, Wagner would have to rely on the hours of work he put in over the summer to turn his weakness into a strength and step forward with the focus that his patient, balanced , an effective but inconsequential game doesn’t always get it.
Well, judging by the 37 points he just put up against the Lakers — Wagner’s fourth 30-point explosion of the season after scoring 11 in his first three seasons — 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals? So far so good:
hza" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no">
The Magic have now won seven of their last eight, the best point differential in the NBA over that stretch. (The friendly schedule helped: Orlando swept a five-game homestand with visits from the injured Pelicans and 76ers, the disappointing Pacers and the basement-dwelling Wizards before going on the road to destroy a Suns team missing Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkić.) So as it’s been since Jamahl Mosley took the reins at Central Florida, Orlando’s defense has led the way in suffocating opponents to a league-low 102.2 points per 100 possessions with no turnovers during that stretch.
But Mosley’s club does too represented almost the top 10 offencedespite the absence of Banchero, and despite the fact that four of Orlando’s six players have logged at least 25 minutes a night over the past few weeks — Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Anthony Black and rookie Tristan da Silva — have combined to shoot a terrible 39-for-146 (26.7%) from deep.
Wagner has been the beating heart of this offense, averaging 28.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.9 assists in 35.4 minutes per night over the last eight games, posting a .587 true shooting percentage (which includes 2-pointers, 3-pointers and free-throw accuracy), while ending more than 31% of Orlando’s offensive possessions with a shot attempt, foul or in turn.
This embedded content is not available in your region.
It’s a superstar combination of utilization, efficiency and production, arrived at only by accumulating possession after possession of hard drives to the paint, impeccable footwork and expert use of angles, fine floaters and on-target passes to shoot teammates. pockets … and, as he showed by drilling four threes in 10 attempts Thursday, the confidence to keep shooting.
“A lot of things are mental for us players as well,” Wagner told reporters after Thursday’s win. “For me, it means I’ll get a little better over the summer and take that into the season. I’ve come a long way since I came to the league, [but] last year was a struggle for me at times. Progress is never just linear; you just have to stay composed.”
While Wagner himself has to stay on par, the results he produces can make your mind wander—if you wonder how good he and magic can be.
Overall, Wagner is averaging 23.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 31.9 minutes per game on the season, shooting up to 35% from long range on 6.1 attempts per game, which is a career high. He is one of 13 players to average at least 23-5-5 this season – a list that includes four MVPs (Nikola Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Stephen Curry), four All-NBA selections (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, Luka Dončić, De’Aaron Fox) and two All-Stars (Banchero’s teammate, Brandon Ingram).
He pairs that impressive box score production with a great advanced stat resume: third in the NBA in wins above turnover by RAPTOR Neil Paine, fifth in LEBRON The BBall Index metric, ninth in value before replacement player, 15th in box plus-minus, 18th 1st in Player Efficiency Rating and 24th in Win Shares per 48 Minutes.
It all points to the 23-year-old playing like one of the top 15 or 20 players in the NBA so far this season. Combine that with the role he played in keeping the Magic above .500 without Bancher and thus above contention in what looks to be a truly scary Eastern Conference, and you have an awfully impressive start to an All-Star case — a gifted player rebounding from a brush with failure, giving everything together and puts his team in a position to reap the benefits.
Last year, Wagner told Jake Fischer that “the worst thing would be to look back and think I didn’t do my best.” If it continues to be like this, he won’t have to worry too much about it. Defenses, on the other hand? They will have a a lot to worry; ask Cam Reddish, JJ Redick and every other Laker who has gotten an up-close look at how dangerous a confident Wagner can be.