Franz Wagner's house is a little quieter these days.
His brother signed with the Brooklyn Nets this summer, penning his official goodbye on Instagram on Sunday. For the first time in his NBA career, he will play for the Orlando Magic without his older brother on the team.
Wagner said that at times the peace and quiet is nice. At times, he misses his brother.
That does not mean no one is pestering him and staying in his ear. That does not mean things are not completely quiet for Wagner.
Throughout a busy offseason that saw Wagner return home to Germany, spend time in New York City and Los Angeles and return to Orlando for much of the past month, Wagner's new coach has been constantly hitting him up.
Sean Sweeney called him about once a week while he was home in Germany, Franz Wagner said. It was a weekly piece of communication between one of the team's star players and the new coach while Wagner was resetting in the offseason. Even if it was a small thing, it left an impression.
"I think the first thing is he is very direct with communication. He's very honest and says what he feels," Franz Wagner said at his basketball camp Sunday. "Obviously, it is going to be a lot of changes from how we do things. I think you guys will see that too as we get going. All good stuff. I'm really excited to see what this new staff brings to the table."
As much as the roster has remained the same, things are different for the Magic. For the first time in Wagner's NBA career, he will be working with a new coaching staff.
It will be interesting to see how he and his teammates respond.
But as the Magic prepare to gather to open training camp, they know there are adjustments that will come. But that also brings growth.
Wagner is eager to get the season started.
Wagner ready for the season
The reality is that the coaching change is meant to be the biggest change to an Orlando Magic team that suffered a fairly disappointing season, with 45 wins and the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference.
The other big change that the Magic are expecting is Franz Wagner returning to health.
Wagner put up near-All-Star numbers last year, averaging 20.6 points per game last year. His 3-point shooting even recovered to 34.5 percent. He likely would have been an All-Star for the second time if not for the oblique injury in the 2025 season and the injury last year.
A high ankle sprain he suffered in early December limited him to 34 games for the season. He attempted to come back twice but was shut down after two games in each instance as problems continued to plague him.
The Magic missed Wagner in several ways, from the addition of his scoring and attacking off the dribble to his versatile defense.
Orlando did not really see its full team together until right before the Playoffs. With Wagner on the floor, the Orlando Magic took a 3-1 series lead over the 60-win Detroit Pistons.
But injuries hit there too, with Wagner leaving Game 4 with a strained calf. That knocked him out for the remainder of the series. The Magic lost the remaining three games.
The early part of Wagner's offseason was spent getting healthy and fully rehabbing the original high ankle sprain that knocked him out for the majority of the season and included two false-start returns.
He, like so many players, likely needed to reset themselves after a frustrating and tumultuous season.
"I think people don't understand sometimes, as much as it is physical, mental stress and the season can hinder some of those processes," Wagner said at his basketball camp Sunday. "I think it was good for me to not have that and decompress. I think that made the healing process for my body easy as well."
Wagner said he believes the calf strain was a consequence of the first injury. He said he took two or three weeks to rehab his injuries, took a few weeks off and then was full-go again. He said it was probably six weeks into the offseason before he was running fully on the court.
That was still plenty of time to get his work in. And he joined several of his teammates in Los Angeles in August for group workouts and to play at the Rico Hines Run.
Wagner appears to have nothing holding him back as training camp begins.
Resetting before camp
That mental reset is important before the daunting marathon that is the NBA season begins.
Everyone should be feeling refreshed and rejuvenated heading into the season. This is the part of the year when everyone believes. And the Orlando Magic are full of optimism about what they can do.
The offseason provided a reset for Wagner. So too did his last big ask before the season began.
On Sunday, Wagner partnered with FlexWork Sports to host a basketball camp for kids on Sunday morning at Game Point Events. The kids went through basic basketball drills and got a chance to hear from Wagner and take photos with him.
Wagner has done a lot of work to help grow basketball at the grassroots level both in Germany and in Orlando. This continued the work of passing his knowledge and experience forward.
"It's not even about the performance and everybody making it to the NBA," Wagner said at the event Sunday. "It's about finding your passion in life. I think I was very fortunate to find that really early. Sometimes it takes one small moment of it clicking a little bit for somebody, and they make something out of that. Any opportunity to give people that moment, we should really cherish that."
Orlando has become a home for Wagner as he enters his sixth year. And Wagner is looking to do more to connect with the Central Florida community.
He will surely still do his Christmas giveaway that he and his brother did over the last two years. The camp was a way to connect with the community in a way that is not always possible during games and the season.
Everyone is eager to see this team take that next step.
"I have changed a lot and grown a lot in my time here," Wagner said at Sunday's event. "I'm really happy, obviously, that I got the opportunity to develop like that here. With all that being said, we have a new opportunity here. That upward momentum and the new staff, I'm excited to turn another page and find some new levels as a group."
The Magic are eager to see that change implemented. It is time to get thing started.
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