Franz Wagner’s flashes are all the Orlando Magic need to succeed

The Orlando Magic were down by 27 points at the half to the Milwaukee Bucks. The depleted roster looked overwhelmed against the power of a nearly healthy Bucks roster rolling.

They picked up 3-pointers with ease and the Magic just looked exhausted after a week and more of dealing with COVID testing and generally staying away from each other.

The Magic are a resilient bunch, or so Jamahl Mosley always tells everyone. They were going to make a run.

It did not feel like it would be a run quite like this. Not a star-making turn that put a scare into the defending champs. The kind of run that gets the fan base of a developing team buzzing and believing in the future.

The Orlando Magic are looking for little signs of their future. Franz Wagner is giving them a big signal of who he can be.

All the Magic want to see this year is the team buy-in and build little habits. Little victories are going to matter, especially while the team is dealing with so many injuries and absences. The team wants to see hints of what it can be with the team growing more consistent as the year concludes and the team gets fully healthy.

They probably never imagined they would see something so clear at this point of the season. Or with this depleted roster.

Franz Wagner though is doing something that feels historic. It feels like it is something beyond just a rookie getting his feet wet with tons of opportunity and little pressure.

He finished with a career-high 38 points on 12-for-20 shooting in the Magic’s 127-110 loss to the Bucks at Amway Center on Tuesday.

He hit every kind of shot imaginable, driving into the lane and finishing in the paint against the usually paint-stingy Bucks defense. He ran the floor and hit from the outside. When the Bucks sent doubles his way he waited and stayed aggressive, finding open teammates or the gap to attack.

For a Magic team looking for the outlines of its future, it has not looked a whole lot clearer than when Wagner has a game like this.

His teammates always knew this was possible.

"“It was just a matter of time,” Wendell Carter said after Tuesday’s game. “Franz is a phenomenal player who knows how to get to his spots. At the beginning of the year, one thing I feel like he was struggling with was confidence. I told him, ‘They drafted you for a reason. Go out there and play your game.’ We all huddled around him. We all pushed him. We understand what he can do. We saw it every day.”"

This was then the fruition of what his teammates saw since training camp. And something fans have seen more and more of late in games. This sudden burst gave the Magic a real chance to erase such a large deficit and push the champions.

As Wagner went on this binge — 27 points in the second half — Orlando whittled the lead down. The team’s 3-point shooting finally came around and the lead shrunk quickly to 20, then to 15, then to 10.

The Magic fought back. That means something to this team.

It is part of the identity the Magic want to have. And while they are dealing with this talent deficit because of all the absences and injuries, they know there are just going to be minutes where the team is unable to hold steady.

It should never get as bad as this game got with the Bucks making threes seemingly at will — 15 in the first half alone. But the Magic regrouped and regained their energy. Making some shots certainly helps on that front.

The Magic’s rookie was at the center of all of this. Ultimately it was him providing the offensive force to make this game.

All of this was unexpected. And to see a rookie leading the charge as the Bucks poured every defensive trick save Giannis Antetokounmpo guarding him directly to slow him down. He beat it, controlling the pace of the game when the ball was in his hands.

He did it from the outside, hitting shots from deep off the dribble:

He did it while driving his way through the lane, showing his body control and ability to squeeze through space to create his own shot.

Wagner can still improve his finishing, but it is hard not to see what he can become:

And then, like any star or near-star player, there are just plays that defy explanation. Plays where the defense throws everything at you and you just beat it.

Somehow Wagner was able to squeeze through two defenders and get to the basket for a tough finish:

He stayed aggressive and understood where and how to attack the defense, making all 10 of his free throws. That kind of aggression was critical to getting the Magic back into the game after a passive first half.

Orlando needed to get downhill. And Wagner is as good as anyone getting going when he gets into the lane.

But Wagner never felt like he was forcing things. Everything had a level of patience about it. He made so few obvious mistakes.

Wagner and the Magic ran out of steam in the end. They went cold and missed some key shots that would have made the Bucks really sweat. Antetokounmpo re-asserted himself to close the game.

Wagner is still far away from stardom. But it sure does not feel like it.

"“We continue to talk about it,” Mosley said after Tuesday’s game. “The level of professionalism, the level oof what you have to do every day to make yourself become successful. That’s what he does. He shows up early. He stays late. He takes care of his body. He just has the ability to be a pro. That’s what we keep talking about with all of our young guys as they are growing and keep getting better, that’s what we’re asking them to do.”"

Wagner continues to put up impressive numbers. But it is the consistency that has fans so excited. Not just the consistency, but his efficiency and how his shots are created. Everything seems so easy for him and defenses have been unable to speed him up and make him look his age.

For the year, Franz Wagner is tied with Scottie Barnes for the lead among rookies in scoring at 15.6 points per game. He is shooting 44.8-percent from the floor and 36.4-percent from deep. He is adding 4.7 rebounds per game for good measure.

Wagner at this point has to be the likely winner of December’s Rookie of the Month Award as he is averaging 19.5 points per game on 47.4-percent shooting and 38.6-percent from deep for the month.

It has become extremely easy to fall in love with his play and what he can become.

But Wagner was not about to bask in a solid individual game. As much as it is encouraging to see him playing this way, Wagner is still driven to win. While wins may be few this year, the best players do not lose sight of this.

Wagner still wants to win. And that might be the most exciting thing of all.

He is still putting all the pieces together. This is not even close to how good he will be.