Franz Jacob Wagner (born August 27, 2001) is a German professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the Orlando Magic of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the Michigan Wolverines. Wagner, a native of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, started his career with Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) club Alba Berlin. In 2019, he was named BBL Best German Young Player. Wagner has played for the German youth national teams, winning a gold medal at the 2018 Albert Schweitzer Tournament. His older brother

Moritz Wagner Moritz Wagner may refer to: * Moritz Wagner (basketball) (born 1997), German professional basketball player * Moritz Wagner (naturalist) Moritz Wagner (Bayreuth, 3 October 1813 – Munich, 31 May 1887) was a German explorer, collector, geographer ...

, a former Michigan standout, also plays for the Orlando Magic.

Recruiting

Wagner was considered a four-star

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and

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. Among the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

programs that recruited him were Butler,

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, and Stanford. On July 6, 2019, Wagner committed to play

for Michigan under head coach

Juwan Howard Juwan Antonio Howard (born February 7, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's team. A one-time All-Star and one-time All-NBA power forward, he began his NBA career ...

. In doing so, he turned down an opportunity to sign a professional contract with Alba Berlin.

College career

On October 21, 2019, Wagner fractured his right wrist and was expected to miss four to six weeks. He made his season debut for the Wolverines on November 27, 2019, and finished the game with six points, three rebounds, and one block in 23 minutes in an 83–76 victory over Iowa State in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis. On December 6, Wagner posted a career-high 18 points in a 103–91 victory over

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

in its Big Ten Conference season opener, as Michigan had six double-digit scorers, including all five starters. On March 1, 2020, Wagner posted 18 points and 10 rebounds for his first career

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

in a 63–77 loss to

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. Following the regular season, he was named to the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

All-Freshman team. During his sophomore season, Wagner posted 14 double-figure games and four 20+ point games, he averaged 13.0 points per game with 6.3 rebounds, a team-high 30 steals and a second-best 23 blocks. Following the season he was named second-team All-Big Ten by the coaches and third-team by the media. On May 4, 2021, he declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA u ...

forgoing his remaining college eligibility.

Professional career

Alba Berlin (2017–2019)

In the 2018–19 season, Wagner played on a dual contract for both Alba Berlin in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), top German league, and SSV Lokomotive Bernau in the third-tier

ProB The ProB is the third-tier level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 24 teams, separated into a Northern and a Southern Division. Officially, the ProB is part of the '' 2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which con ...

league. In May 2019, he won the BBL Best Young Player Award. In Game 2 of the BBL Finals against Bayern Munich, Wagner scored a team-high 14 points, making all six of his shots. By the end of the season, he was averaging 4.6 points in 12.4 minutes per game in the BBL and played limited minutes in the EuroCup.

Orlando Magic (2021–present)

Wagner was selected with the eighth pick in the

by the Orlando Magic. He and fellow lottery pick

Jalen Suggs Jalen Rashon Suggs (born June 3, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. He was selected by the Magic with the ...

signed with the Magic on August 3. Wagner posted his first NBA double-double with a career-high 11 rebounds and 14 points as well as 6 assists on December 18 against the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The ...

. On December 27, 2021, Wagner put up a career-high 38 points in a 127–110 loss to the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

. Wagner was named the NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in December. Wagner's second NBA double-double occurred on January 12, 2022 against the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

when he upped his career-high assist plateau from 6 to 10 and added 14 points. This marked the first time a Magic rookie forward had ever posted 10 or more assists in a game. Following the

2021–22 NBA season The 2021–22 NBA season was the 76th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA returned to a full 82-game regular season in its normal mid-October to mid-April schedule for the first time since the 2018–19 NBA season, aft ...

he was named to the

NBA All-Rookie First Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for player ...

. On November 5, 2022, Wagner scored a season-high 31 points and recorded six assists in a 126–123 overtime loss to the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

. On December 29, he was suspended by the NBA for one game without pay due to coming off the bench during an altercation in a game against the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

the day before.

National team career

Wagner played for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

at the

2017 FIBA U16 European Championship The 2017 FIBA U16 European Championship was the 31st edition of the Under-16 European Basketball Championship. The tournament was held in Podgorica, Montenegro, from 11 to 19 August 2017. Sixteen (16) teams participated, including 2016 Division ...

Podgorica Podgorica (Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; lit. 'under the hill') is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd (Cyrillic: Титоград, ) between 1946 and 1992—in the period that Montenegro form ...

, Montenegro. In five games, he averaged 7.4 points per game as his team finished in 13th place. In 2018, Wagner averaged six points per game and helped Germany win the gold medal at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament, an under-18 competition in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

, Germany. In the 2019 FIBA U18 European Championship in

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

, Greece, he averaged 13 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, leading his team to 11th place. He missed one game with a back injury. In

EuroBasket 2022 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

, he averaged 16.1 points and 4 rebounds per game, beating Poland in his home city of Berlin to take home bronze for Germany.

Honours

* BBL Best Young Player Award: 2018–19 * NBA All Rookie 1st Team 2021-22:

Career statistics

NBA

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Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

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College

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, style="text-align:left;",

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Personal life

Wagner is the younger brother of

(NBA) player

who is his teammate on the Orlando Magic. Moritz played three seasons of college basketball for Michigan and was a first-round pick in the 2018 NBA draft.

References

External links

Michigan Wolverines bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Franz 2001 births Living people Alba Berlin players Basketball players from Berlin German expatriate basketball people in the United States German men's basketball players National Basketball Association players from Germany Michigan Wolverines men's basketball players Orlando Magic draft picks Orlando Magic players Shooting guards