Franz Wagner enchants the NBA. He is considered an All-Star and is the outstanding player of a new generation of German basketball players in the NBA.
His big brother summed it up. “To be honest, what surprises me the most is that nothing surprises me anymore,” Moritz Wagner recently said about Franz after it was announced that he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the first time. An award that is not very relevant in the NBA, but shows how much the reputation of Franz Wagner is also increasing in the USA.
For two weeks, Franz Wagner has been playing at a level that has never been seen from him before. 32 points here, 31 points there. Plus consistently more than five assists. “That’s the most impressive thing. I assume that’s how he plays, and I don’t care how many 30-point games he puts up because it’s normal now,” Moritz continued to enthuse, while not only he, but all observers can watch , how Franz Wagner develops from a talent into a player who can lead a team. The Orlando Magic are confidently ranked in the top four of the Eastern Conference, even though they have been without their superstar Paolo Banchero for more than three weeks. He tore an abdominal muscle after a red-hot start to the season. A setback for him, but at the same time an opportunity for Franz Wagner.
Almost as elegant as Manu Ginóbili once was
Because in the symbiosis of the two, Banchero was often the one who created advantages, while Wagner expanded or exploited the advantages. But now, without Banchero, Wagner not only has to initiate the attack with the ball in his hand when his superstar needs a breather, no, it is now his main task. And Wagner handles it impressively.
For a basketball player, he’s not a great athlete. Especially not in the NBA, where the ability to fly is also quite developed in humans. Wagner destroys his opponents with fine footwork and a strong sense of deceleration and acceleration. Sometimes it almost seems as if Wagner was an ellipse. It’s as if he perceives time more slowly than the other players on the court. Then the opponents fly past him while he pauses for a moment and then delicately lets the ball roll over his fingers into the basket – or passes it to a free-standing teammate. Wagner is not a spectacular player, but he is an elegant one. His game is reminiscent of that of the Argentine basketball genius Manu Ginóbili – which is another reason why people sometimes forget that Wagner is only five centimeters shorter than Dirk Nowitzki.
He could soon follow in his footsteps. While his teammate Anthony Black recently reported that Wagner was now communicating a lot more on the court and giving commands, his head coach Jamahl Mosley praised him exuberantly and certified that he was at “All-Star level”. It’s still a while until the exhibition game. It will take place on February 16th in San Francisco. But if Wagner actually makes it into the select circle of 24 players who pass the ball back and forth to each other every year for alley-oops and other feats, then Wagner would be the first German all-star since Nowitzki, who is still heroically revered in the USA
But Wagner doesn’t manage his legacy alone, because unlike in the times of the great Dirk, there are now more than just one German players playing in the NBA. This is certainly due to the Europeanization of the league (with Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo there have recently been more European MVPs than US ones), but also to the improved training in Germany.
Franz Wagner and seven other Germans in the NBA
Structurally important decisions were the founding of a junior basketball league (NBBL) in 2006, a junior basketball league (JBBL) in 2008 and the introduction of the 6+6 rule in the BBL. This means: six German players must always be in the squad.
Since then, German basketball players have received more support from local clubs because the clubs depend on them. And that’s also why not only Franz Wagner now plays in the NBA, but also seven other German players alongside him. More than ever before. Two of them are even on his team, the Orlando Magic: Tristan da Silva, who is earning more and more minutes in his first season in the league, and of course Franz’s brother and roommate Moritz, who is important for the Magic as a role player and source of energy off the bench is. National coach Álex Mumbrú can look forward to all of these players when the next European Basketball Championship takes place in summer 2025. But first he has to qualify – without the NBA players.
