A difficult season for the Magic continued on Wednesday, as ESPN’s Shams Charania reported young Orlando star Franz Wagner is sidelined indefinitely with a left ankle sprain that has lingered for months.
“Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner will be sidelined indefinitely after recent tests showed that he requires additional time and rehabilitation for soreness in his left high ankle sprain, sources tell ESPN,” Charania reported. “The Magic will evaluate Wagner's progress in three weeks.”
Wagner suffered the injury initially on December 7. He has played in only four games since—two of the Magic’s international showcases (one in his home country of Germany) and two more just before the All-Star break. He missed 16 games after going down against the Knicks in late 2025 and was forced to miss nine of Orlando’s last 11 games heading into All-Star Weekend.
On the year the 24-year-old Wagner is averaging 21.3 points per game on 47.9% shooting from the floor. The Magic hold seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 28–25 record exiting the All-Star break.
Franz Wagner’s latest injury update continues rough trend for Magic this season
The Magic have been one of the NBA’s most disappointing teams this season. They seemed to have the bones of a perennial postseason contender with Paolo Banchero and Wagner as franchise cornerstones. The front office clearly believed they were close to true contention, as signaled by Orlando’s decision to trade four first-round picks for Desmond Bane. But the team started off the year poorly and haven’t really recovered, struggling to stay above .500 in a weaker Eastern Conference compared to pervious years.
While there’s plenty of tangible blame to go around, injuries have played a big part. Wagner, as noted above, has been largely out of the lineup for over two months and counting. His co-star, Banchero, has missed 10 games. Key rotation players like Jalen Suggs and Goga Bitadze have missed double-digit games as well.
Each year NBA teams have their season trajectory completely altered thanks to the injury bug. The Magic are such a team this year, a painful unfolding of events after their two young stars struggled to stay healthy last year too.
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