Orlando Magic Second Quarter MVP: Franz Wagner makes his case for the future

The Orlando Magic’s future is not its present.

The team is openly admitting that it views success as something other than wins and its current record. They almost have to considering the team went just 3-17 in the second quarter of the season with two of those wins coming while their team and the rest of the league were going through COVID-19 absences.

It was not a strong quarter and the Magic’s seven wins are the fewest in franchise history at the midpoint of the season.

There is no hiding from that terrible history. And the Magic will have to spend the second half of their season trying to escape the worst marks in franchise history (the fewest wins in team history is the expansion team at 18).

Orlando’s present does not look good, even with the near-term prospect of players returning. All Magic fans have had to do is hold onto glimmers of the team’s future. They are left, like the team itself, trying to figure out what players to hold onto and what direction to take.

These themes and this evaluation will continue through the final 41 games. Orlando can only hope that these flashes and glimmers continue to pull through. And that it ends up in a few more wins.

If the Magic are seeking bright spots for their future, none seemed to shine brighter or become more clear than the play of rookie Franz Wagner.

Franz Wagner emerged over the course of the second quarter of the season as a key part of the Orlando Magic’s future and more than just a rookie forward.

Wagner was a player some fans doubted when the team made him the eighth selection. Even I said he was too safe a pick for a team that needed star power and some force offensively.

Everyone who said that — and even believers who thought he would be an above-average starter — were proven completely wrong.

In the second quarter of the season, Wagner made his presence known at almost every level. He started to get recognition nationally from media and respect from opponents as he started to make his name in the NBA. Not to mention winning the NBA’s Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for December, including a 38-point effort against the Milwaukee Bucks.

If the Magic’s season is about its future, Wagner is the bright spot so far.

In the second quarter of the season, Wagner averaged 18.8 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game. He shot 47.4-percent from the floor and 36.5-percent from beyond the arc. He posted a 51.7-percent effective field goal percentage.

That becomes even more impressive considering he was at times the only full-time starter the Magic consistently had available.

Wagner is the only player on the Magic roster to play in every game to this point in the season. He was the only player to play all 20 games in the second quarter of the season, along with being one of the few players to avoid the team’s COVID outbreak.

The numbers do not quite capture why Wagner was so impressive.

The Magic because of all those injuries had to keep throwing more and more onto Wagner’s plate.

They likely envisioned Wagner playing a supporting role on this team as a cutter and floor spacer as they slowly enlarged his role. They treasured his basketball IQ and how he could be a glue guy just as much as every observer for the draft.

All the absences forced him to do a whole lot more. He played significant minutes as a main ball-handler on the floor and took a whole lot more shots.

Wagner averaged 14.6 field goal attempts per game and had a usage rate of 23.4-percent during the second quarter of the season. He just greatly expanded his role and took on any challenge and role the team gave him. All while seemingly doing it in a scalable way as his role reduces with more players coming back.

Wagner has already proven he can still make an impact even on the periphery of the offense. Not that the Magic should just throw him on the back burner and let returning players take all the shots and minutes. Wagner has earned his keep.

The fact this was a rookie doing all this, often adjusting and learning in real-time while maintaining his pace and efficiency is even more impressive.

If anything, Wagner’s emergence as a potential Rookie of the Year and a surefire All-Rookie team player (expect him to play in the Rising Stars game in Cleveland during All-Star Weekend too) is the brightest sign the Magic have of their future. It has changed the plans the Magic have for their young big man.

The team is running plays specifically to get Wagner shots and are consciously mindful of keeping the young forward involved. Good things happen when he has the ball in his hands.

Even for a team that has few bright spots, Wagner is one of the few players who make the team significantly better.

For the season, the Magic have a -7.2 net rating with Wagner on the floor compared to -13.2 net rating with him off the floor. That has started to drop now as the Magic try to use him as the centerpiece of second-unit lineups.

In the second quarter of the season, the Magic had a -6.1 net rating with Wagner on the floor compared to -11.5 net rating with him off the floor.

The Magic have a long way to go and Wagner is probably not ready to take on the full scoring burden yet. He still has a lot to improve — his finishing and balance attacking the rim will be the first thing with how good he is already at getting to the rim and keeping defenses off balance off the dribble, his 3-point shooting and pull-up jump shooting will come next.

The crazy part about the last 20 games is having to stop and remind yourself that Wagner is still a rookie. He is still prone to make mistakes and still learning the league. It is clear how much better he is going to get.

Orlando needs those moments and those realizations to get through this season. It has been a difficult year with injuries and the overall youth of the team. The Magic have not been able to get over the hump and win consistently.

Right now, they have to believe there are better days ahead and players they can truly build around.

Nobody probably predicted it in September but Wagner has been perhaps the brightest and most clear spot in that future.