Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner exited his team’s 106-100 loss to the New York Knicks with an apparent left leg injury and did not return.
Wagner appeared to tweak his knee after being fouled by Ariel Hukporti with 4:43 remaining in the first quarter. The 24 year old remained down on the court in visible discomfort before eventually limping back to the locker room. The team was quick to rule him out for the remainder of the contest.
“You never want to see anybody go down, but that hurt my heart, watching him hit the floor,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Now I’m just praying that everything is going to be OK with him, but we just don’t like to see that happen to him, especially [Wagner], who does everything the right way at all times he’s on the floor.”
The club has remained non-committal on the extent of Wagner’s injury, simply saying that he would undergo additional testing Sunday night when the team returned to Orlando. The small forward was limited to just 60 games in 2024-25 due to injury, which Mosley & Co. are hoping isn’t going to be the case again this year.
Currently leading the team with 23.4pts per night, Wagner had elevated his game of late, averaging 25.1pts/6reb/4ast per night over the last seven games. With the loss Sunday afternoon, the team is now 7-3 over their last 10 games, and have risen to 6th place in the Eastern Conference with a 14-10 record overall.
The team has been battling early season bumps and bruises to their star players even prior to Wagner going down on the weekend. Former 1st overall draft pick Paolo Banchero has missed a large stretched of time in the early part of the year as he dealt with a groin strain, while Moritz Wagner has been battling knee issues himself.
Making matters worse, guard Jalen Suggs exited to the locker room in the 4th quarter of the game vs. New York and did not return as well. The team indicated that he suffered a lower body injury which is believed to be his leg after recording 17 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and a block across 32 minutes of action.
If Wagner and Suggs were both to miss an extended period of time, it would be a major blow for a Magic squad that’s looking to establish itself in the muddy Eastern Conference playoff picture. Orlando will have Monday off before taking on the Miami Heat in the quarter finals of the NBA Cup on Tuesday at 6pm ET.
Photo: Sandro Halank. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.