The weight of every passing minute in Sunday's game against the Boston Celtics felt big.
The Orlando Magic rallied from a 15-point deficit and tied the game in the third quarter. They were in a tight game, fighting to crest the hill to win.
As these games often do, they came down to the team's two star players.
Jayson Tatum is plenty established. He hit two big mid-range jumpers as the Magic trusted their man-to-man defense to close the game, keeping the Magic at arm's length.
Orlando needed its star in Franz Wagner to answer.
Wagner had already been through a lot. He had a career-high 12 assists. But he was upping his aggression in the fourth quarter to try to close the game.
Wagner would not be able to get the team over the hump. He went only 2-for-8 in the fourth quarter as part of a frustrating 5-for-20 shooting game. He had seven of his shots blocked, including two of his final three field goals as the Magic tried to erase a late eight-point deficit.
All Wagner could do was pick himself up, as he did on the first of Nemias Queta's blocks on him.
Wagner did so, following it up with 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting in Monday's loss to the Washington Wizards. But it was again a loss for the Magic.
A lot is on his shoulders. He is carrying the biggest burden on the team with Paolo Banchero out as the Magic try to figure out a new offensive system and fill in for their growing injury list.
"He's always been a guy who draws a ton of attention when he has the ball in his hands and when he doesn't have the ball in his hands," Desmond Bane said after Monday's loss. I think with some of the things we're doing offensively, spacing-wise, we're giving him outlets. He knows where a lot of his reads are, and his guys are. It's making his life easier as far as his decisions. He is carrying a big burden right now with so many guys out. He's doing a hell of a job."
In many ways, this does not look like Franz Wagner with his struggles to get to the rim, and it looks like a worn-down, overworked Franz Wagner. He is both having a standout season with all the promise that his stardom demands and a disappointing season that has revealed many of his biggest flaws.
In any case, the Magic need more. Whether that is more from Wagner in terms of efficiency and taking care of the ball or more from other players to ease that burden.
Wagner's responsibility
Orlando Magic fans already have an expectation set for what Franz Wagner can do when Paolo Banchero is out of the lineup. He made it clear that he is an All-Star-level player by how he carried the team while Banchero was out.
Wagner has had a solid season so far, averaging 20.3 points per game. But he is shooting only 41.9 percent from the field and an icy 20.0 percent on 5.0 3-point attempts per game.
Wagner has had the ball in his hands a lot since Banchero's injury. He has a 28.0 percent usage rate, by far the highest on the Magic.
According to data from Second Spectrum, Wagner leads the league with 25.6 drives per game. He is shooting 50.0 percent on these drives and averaging 2.6 assists per game against 1.4 turnovers per game.
He is carrying a huge responsibility and is the Magic's chief attacker. Since Paolo Banchero's injury, Anthony Black is second on the team with 12.5 drives per game.
It has all been on Wagner.
"I think everybody has got their job on the team," Wagner said after Monday's loss. "That's my job to create some advantages for our team. I think that's just how it goes. My job is not necessarily more important than the next man's job. I have to do my part to help the team win. I think it's a challenge. But I think if you want to be a great player in this league, you can't shy away from that type of stuff. We're going to figure this thing out as a group."
The Magic are still figuring out the right balance without a doubt.
Like the early games in the run in 2025 after Banchero's torn oblique, Wagner is getting comfortable with these new responsibilities. Eventually the Magic may benefit as they did in those years.
There are still areas he is coming up short.
Wagner coming up short
The Orlando Magic's struggles to start the season belong to the entire team. No one player shoulders that blame.
Franz Wagner has clearly improved as a playmaker -- averaging a career-high 7.6 assists per game. Defenses are clearly packing the paint and daring someone on this team to make an outside shot. Or daring someone else to try to attack off the dribble.
Wagner was never a completely efficient player. But that was one advantage people believed he had. He was an at-the-rim player with enough three-point shooting to keep defenses honest.
The Magic's success might come to how Wagner scores at the rim and how teammates support him with their outside shot.
This year, Wagner is shooting 57.1 percent on 11.0 field goal attempts per game within 10 feet this year. He was at 56.0 percent on 9.0 field goal attempts per game.
He is indeed getting ot the basket a lot more and finishing with more efficiency there.
What he has struggled with are his turnovers and complementing that with mid-range jumpers. Let alone his struggling 3-point shot.
Wagner is constantly on the attack. That is all he has.
"I think we've got to do a better job creating easy looks for him," Anthony Black said after Sunday's loss. "Whether that is transition, moving the ball, getting him good open jump shots, I think we need to do a better job giving him space to get downhill, attack his man, and being ready to play off his passes. That is going to make it hard to guard us as a team."
The Magic know Wagner is the center of everything they can do.
Frustrations over his game are likely overstated. But it is also clear that the Magic need a lot from Wagner. Like any star player, a lot falls on his shoulders.
Everyone is still learning this offense. Everyone is still building trust.
"I think some of it is trying to get that spacing in the right spots and doing a great job with our screening," Sweeney said after Monday's game. "If a guy has 24 points and six assists and he struggled on 10-for-18 shooting, that tells you how good a player he is. I think he did a good job throughout the course of the game and a number of times tried to find his teammates and play the right way. Got to keep building on that. He is doing a good job in a lot of areas. He knows he can get better, and we know we can get better as a group."
This team will go as far as Wagner goes. And the Magic know they must continue to improve.
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