For a summer when the Orlando Magic's front office projected certainty with their roster, this has been an offseason full of doubt.
Is Paolo Banchero the right star to lead this team? Is Jalen Suggs a capable point guard for a championship-level team? Is there enough shooting? Can you really trust a rookie head coach with so much seemingly on the line?
There are a lot of points of fracture within this Magic team and ahead of this season. There are a lot of things that could break this team apart before it even gets started.
Change may be inevitable, considering the realities of the league's salary cap bearing down on the team.
Something has to hold this team together. There is something that can be the glue making it all stick.
Despite all the frustrations the Magic had last year, they were all back on the court together and still pushed the 60-win Detroit Pistons to seven games, taking a 3-1 series lead. This has been the biggest selling point.
Almost everyone in the league acknowledges that if Franz Wagner had not strained his calf in Game 4, the Magic likely would have held on to win that series. Some even believed the Magic could still have made the conference finals.
So perhaps the biggest question facing the Magic is whether Wagner can shake off his previous two injury-filled seasons and be the thing that keeps this Magic team operating at a high level.
Wagner is the glue that holds the team together, connects lineups and takes over when needed. For Orlando to be successful, it will need a big season from Wagner.
That is something everyone around the league sees him capable of doing.
"If he plays 65 games, I 'd be a little surprised if he is not All-NBA," Locked on Cavs host Danny Cunningham said on Locked on NBA. "I think he is that type of talent. He has shown he can be that type of guy. He just has to stay healthy. That is something easier said than done. You can say that about a lot of people.
"But I think what Franz has shown and the way that I think he can drive winning in a way that Paolo Banchero maybe hasn't been able to show because Paolo Banchero's game can at times be a little more empty calories."
There is a narrative that is driving a wedge between Banchero and Wagner, the Magic's two stars.
But it has always been a both/and proposition, not an either/or one. And the Magic need the most from Wagner as much as anything else.
Holding the team together
Paolo Banchero has acknowledged that part of his job this season is to push a more aggressive version of Franz Wagner out of his shell and stay out of the way when it happens.
Wagner has always acted a bit like the little brother -- a little sheepish and comfortable in the background while older and louder players have their say. He seems more comfortable as a cutter and slasher rather than a primary initiator.
A big part of this season will be both Banchero and Wagner stepping up as leaders and working together to keep the team on track, all with a new coach leading the way.
Wagner's absence last year, after he suffered a high ankle sprain, was certainly felt throughout the roster. He seems to connect everyone on the floor.
Wagner is a boost for most lineups he is in and helps slot everyone into their proper roles. More than that, Wagner can be dominant on the ball or work off the ball as a cutter better than almost anyone on the team.
Before Wagner's injury last year (not including the game in which he got hurt), he averaged 23.4 points per game and shot 48.7 percent from the floor and 35.4 percent from three. The Magic had a +2.5 net rating with Wagner on the floor.
That was actually worse than the team's average at the time (coming in at 2.3 points per 100 possesions worse offensively).
What Wagner really seemed to do in that early part of the season is put everyone in better roles. Paolo Banchero, who is often criticized for his poor on/off numbers, had a +3.3 net rating through those games (granting he missed time with a strained groin). Jalen Suggs had a +9.9 net rating in those early games.
The same effect became clear during the Playoffs too.
Through the first four games of the series, the Magic had a team-best +6.8 net rating (104.8/98.0 offensive/defensive rating). Orlando had a -9.9 net rating with Wagner off the floor (it was -2.1 with Banchero off the floor).
There is certainly something to it that Wagner was someone who made a lot of things work. He was a glue that held a lot of the team's success together.
While it is fair to argue the Magic should have been better with Banchero on his own, the Magic needed Wagner to tie so many things together.
Set to be an All-Star?
Franz Wagner should have been an All-Star already.
Everyone essentially agrees that if not for his torn oblique in the 2025 season, he would have made his first All-Star Game that season. He averaged 24.2 points per game that season.
He was on track to do the same before his high ankle sprain last season. His numbers would have put Wagner on track to be an All-Star, especially considering the Magic were 14-10 and fifth in the East when Wagner got hurt.
Orlando was clearly still in the race and starting to pick up steam, going 13-6 after the 1-4 start to the season.
This is among the reasons the Magic have hope for this year. There is certainly a correlation between the Magic's success and Wagner's presence in the lineup. And Wagner's return will make the biggest impact on the team.
The Magic should be fostering more aggression from Wagner, too. He can continue to improve as a playmaker and has proven that he can take over games. Orlando should be fostering that.
An improved three-point shot would help too -- he shot 35.4 percent from three before his injury, a marked improvement after two straight seasons where his three-point shot abandoned him.
It is easy to see how Wagner can be in the All-Star conversation.
But more importantly, the Magic need him because he makes so many other things work. Another 6-foot-10 ball handler completes the vision that Jeff Weltman has had for this team.
He was missing last year. Wagner is someone who could help tie so many things together next year.
Add us as a preferred source on Google