With extension looming, Franz Wagner vows to use Magic’s Game 7 loss as motivation
There’s no hiding it.
Franz Wagner‘s Game 7 performance for the Magic against the Cavs in the first round of the NBA playoffs lacked luster.
“That’s going to stick with me all summer,” Wagner said recently of his 6-point, 1-of-15 showing in a do-or-die contest at Cleveland. “Hopefully, I can use it as motivation and fuel that the right way.”
Luckily for Wagner, one game doesn’t define his team’s season nor his individual accomplishments in his third year with the Magic.
The German forward still set career-highs in scoring (19.7 points), rebounding (5.3), assists (3.7) and steals (1.1) despite playing the fewest regular-season games in his career (72).
Wagner, who missed 10 games with a right ankle sprain, plans to take some time off before returning to the court. He’s set to join his brother, Moe Wagner, and Germany at the Summer Olympics in Paris after the national team won the FIBA World Cup last year.
“The most important thing is getting your mind right and getting some energy back,” he said.
His energy and mental fortitude were challenged more than either of his first two seasons in the NBA when the Magic found themselves in the playoff race.
During Wagner’s rookie season, Orlando only won 22 games. It made a jump to 34 wins before reaching the playoffs as the No. 5 seed with 47 wins, the most for the franchise since 2011.
“Way different urgency needed every day,” Wagner said when comparing his first two seasons to his third. “It was not my first time I played on a good team but obviously in the NBA, with everything that comes with that, it was the first time for me, too.
“To keep that up over a long stretch is not easy,” he added. “That was also a big learning [experience] for me [and] everybody this year to get to used to that.”
Despite the series loss, Wagner is optimistic about the future and believes the franchise is headed in the right direction.
“We had a great year,” he said. “I’m still a little frustrated from [Game 7], but there’s a lot we can be proud of and we can build on.”
All signs point to Wagner being a key part of the Magic’s future.
The 2021 No. 8 draft pick already had his third- and fourth-year team options picked up by Orlando, and he enters this summer eligible for a rookie-scale extension along with guard Jalen Suggs, who was selected three picks earlier.
“A huge component of the summer is [that] we have young players who are extension-eligible,” said Jeff Weltman, Magic president of basketball operations. “That gets layered into free agency and the draft. We want to try to keep together our core and build — not subtract.”
The Magic have money to spend this summer if they want to — as much as $32 million projected in cap space — but rookie-scale extensions to Wagner and Suggs, as well as Paolo Banchero in the coming years, will limit that in the future.
It’s a good problem to have and it’s a continuation of the investment the Magic made when they drafted the talented trio.
“Cap space is great, but this is coming at all of us,” Weltman said of the extensions. “Especially with the new CBA, we have a lot of hard decisions to make coming up. That starts this summer.
“We’ll obviously engage with the representatives for the players that are extension-eligible,” he added. “We’ll be hopeful that we can come to some sort of agreement, but we’ll go forward and do the best that we can, and continue to grow the team that we have.”
Magic’s Paolo Banchero aims to return to ‘good ol’ basics’ over summer
Wagner has already shown he’s worthy of extending but figuring out how much he’s worth is the challenging part. Will Orlando offer him a rookie max (which is worth 25% of the 2024-25 cap space that’ll be determined after an audit of league finances by July 1) or only an extension that’s just near the max but below it?
Rookie-scale extensions can only be signed between 12:01 p.m. on the last day of the free agency moratorium period — July 6 — and through 6 p.m. on the day prior to the first day of the regular season (late October).
“That stuff will get taken care of when it gets taken care of,” Magic general manager Anthony Parker recently told 96.9 The Game about extensions for Wagner and Suggs.
“I’m excited about that and I know our fans are as well,” he added.
Although Wagner’s 3-point accuracy dipped from 36.1% last year to 28.1%, he still became one of only six players 22 or younger in league history to compile 4,000-plus points, 1,000-plus rebounds and 700-plus assists during his first three pro seasons, joining LeBron James (Lakers), Luka Doncic (Mavs), Anthony Edwards (T-Wolves), Russell Westbrook (Clippers) and Chris Paul (Warriors).
“Nobody wants it more than Franz,” Parker said. “He never stops playing hard. He never stops making the right play.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
