There was no shame in anything Franz Wagner did during his season or the playoff series against the Boston Celtics. He averaged career highs in scoring, rebounds and assists and spent a good chunk of the season as the lead creator for the team when Paolo Banchero got hurt.
It should have been a season of celebration that clearly pointed Wagner on that path toward stardom. He legitimized his max contract.
Yet, all anyone could talk about was the flaw that dogged him mysteriously all season.
For the second straight season, his 3-point percentage dipped to less than 30 percent. In the Playoffs, he made just 7 of 37 (18.9 percent) from beyond the arc. Everyone was focused on what he did not have.
More than that, after he returned from his oblique injury, he had a strange hitch in his shot. No one could figure out why it developed.
He was statistically much worse after his injury. It left Wagner with a lot of questions to answer entering his offseason. If the Magic were going to take the leap into contention, they needed Wagner to show confidence and ability from beyond the arc.
This is one game. It is not even a competitive one. It was a friendly and the first one, at that -- looking like a first preseason game with the excessive fouling.
But, Wagner was different. He was confident. He was willing to shoot. He was hunting for his shot.
This is not Wagner in his final form. This was not a Germany team running on all cylinders (Dennis Schroder, Daniel Theis and Maodo Lo all sat out and Franz Wagner will surely sit out Sunday's game or a future game before Eurobasket). But there was Wagner looking better and on the right track.
And Germany still won 103-89 in their first warmup game before Eurobasket.
Wagner takes steps
At least Franz Wagner looked like he had taken clear steps in the last three months to solve the issues that dogged him throughout the season.
Wagner's second shot of the game was a three. Hardly anything worth describing. But that hitch was gone. It was just Wagner stepping to the top of the key and smoothly draining a three.
That was his only three-point make in three attempts. But even those misses were smoother and more confident. Wagner at least looked like he had figured something out with his shooting where he could shoot confidently again.
Proof will be in what he does the rest of this summer. One game does not make a trend. This was merely a step in the right direction.
Everything else he did looked like the Wagner who was on track to be an All-Star and is widely expected to be an All-Star this year.
He scored 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting (again, 1 for 3 from three). He did all that in 17:33 of action before fouling out in this foul fest of a first game (Slovenia took 32 free throws in the first half and finished with 54 attempts in the game). Wagner actually fouled out on a technical foul after he argued a foul he committed trying to gain post position.
Before all of that, Wagner did what he always does. He deftly attacked off the dribble, getting downhill and finishing at the rim with efficiency. His first score saw him come around a screen and take an open lane to the basket for a two-handed dunk with a foul.
Wagner dominated the third quarter, scoring quickly on two plays -- one on a post-up after a deep seal and another on a quick drive to the basket. Franz Wagner is still impossible to stop when he has space and a driving lane, a dangerous preview to life playing alongside better shooting in Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones.
This was a solid opening statement as Germany prepares for Eurobasket.
But everyone is focused on his shooting. Everyone is focused on whether Wagner can space the floor and be a threat from the outside. That is the thing that could unlock everything for the Magic.
This is all in the right direction for Wagner and the Magic's hopes for next season. That is all anyone could ask for.
With Germany missing so many players, Wagner taking things calmly and easily, the excess fouling and turnovers and still winning by double digits, it is certainly a sign that Germany is indeed a team that could give a lot of teams problems when Eurobasket begins in a few weeks.