Franz Wagner was East Player of the Week, All-Star is clearly next

Franz Wagner had the spotlight shining directly on him Monday.

The NBA came out in the afternoon naming Franz Wagner the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the first time in his career after he averaged 30.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game in three games last week, all wins.

As coach Jamahl Mosley said before the game against the Phoenix Suns the award was "earned and deserved." Wagner indeed is playing at a high level.

But that is just one week. Greatness comes from stacking days and games on top of each other. All-Stars are made with consistency. And now everyone knows Wagner's name, assuming they got the press release from the NBA.

What does that look like and how does Wagner handle that? That is what will ultimately make his All-Star case, the next level up in his accolades. Wagner is increasingly being treated like an All-Star too. The question is whether he can continue to stack these days.

And that means every game will look a bit different. The end result though? That remains the same.

Wagner continued his tear through the NBA with 32 points, five rebounds, and eight assists, making 12 of 24 shots and four of eight 3-pointers to lead the Orlando Magic to a 109-99 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Wagner was instrumental as the Magic pulled away and built a 16-point halftime lead with 13 points and three 3-pointers in the second quarter. He then put the finishing touches to the game with 10 points and 3-for-5 shooting in the final quarter, getting possession after possession to close the game after the Suns cut the deficit to single digits for the first time in the second half.

In other words, Wagner made sure the Magic did not lose this game. He closed it like a star does. He played the entire game like an All-Star. And with one national award under his belt, another is trending as the Magic hit the meat of their season.

Regardless of how things were, Wagner is playing like an All-Star now.

Franz Wagner is rising to the challenge

"All-Star level. I can't say it enough," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Monday's win. "You ask guys to step up in these moments in not having a full healthy roster and he has done that. An extra version of it. It's great for what he does and who he is and how he works. It's just being rewarded the body of work that he continues to have every single night."

The numbers speak for themselves.

During this six-game win streak, Wagner is averaging 29.0 points per game, 6.0 rebounds per game and 6.3 assists per game. He is shooting 47.0 percent from the floor and 37.0 percent from three (on 7.7 attempts per game).

With the way Wagner is playing, it is getting pretty clear he will be an All-Star if this play keeps up (or even lowers a notch). The Magic's status as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference will almost reserve a spot on the team in San Francisco (in whatever format the game is played) for him.

He has already begun to embrace taking more of the mid-range shots that All-Stars take, spinning and firing off the dribble and the post more often. He is stepping into threes with confidence.

More than that, Wagner has found a different command over the game. He has found the ability to manage and direct traffic all the while getting more attention from defenses.

He is in control of the game and can sense what his team needs, delivering in the biggest moments.

"He's winning a lot of games for us down the stretch," Anthony Black said after Monday's win. "Honestly the whole game with his aggression getting to the rim and his effort on the defensive end. And honestly just his leadership. He took a big step up and he is using his voice a lot telling us where he wants us and what he sees out there. We're playing off of him. He's playing at a high level. If you ask me, he's definitely playing at an All-Star level."

As impressive as Wagner's scoring was throughout the game, the difference for him is what he did early in the game when the Suns were doubling him on every pick and roll.

The Magic seemed intent to get Jalen Suggs the ball early in the game and Franz Wagner was happy to play decoy, absorbing some pressure to get the ball rotating to others. He had two assists in each quarter of the game, but he got the Suns in rotation, allowing the Magic to win their first opening quarter on the road this season.

It opened the door for others to surge ahead whether it was Jalen Suggs early on—he scored seven of his 12 points in the opening minutes—Anthony Black throughout the game on his way to a season-high 20 points and a career-high nine assists, or Goga Bitadze with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Anchored with a devastating defense that held its sixth straight opponent to fewer than 100 points, becoming the first team to do so since 2018 and the first magic team to do so sine 2016, Orlando had more than enough to secure the game.

As with everything, it starts with that lead player. It starts with the team's star.

When Paolo Banchero went out with the torn oblique, everyone wondered whether the Magic could keep the same pressure and tension in a defense. Everyone wondered if Wagner had the killer instinct and drive to lead this team through this difficult stretch without Banchero, an already-established star.

Wagner was the one after all whom everyone questioned was worth the max contract that kicks in for him next year.

It may have taken some convincing and may have taken Wagner getting his feet under him, but he has been unleashed now. And everything that made him an analytics darling remained even as he shouldered more of this load.

More importantly, the Magic continue to win. That is the ultimate measure of a star. The team has bounced back from the shock of Banchero's injury and that difficult road trip two weeks ago and are stacking those good days over and over again.

Wagner continues to stack good games over and over again. The rewards like his Eastern Conference Player of the Week will follow.

"It's super cool," Franz Wagner said after Monday's win. "Obviously, I was happy about it. But hopefully, as a collective, we can keep this going.

There are still two months before the votes are tallied and the coaches make their decision on who gets to play in San Francisco in the NBA's winter showcase. Wagner is seemingly well on his way to getting his first nod—and Banchero may be back in time to play some catch-up and make his case too.

As far as things go, the Magic have two established stars on their roster now. And Wagner seems only to be expanding his game from here as he builds a true All-Star resume.