DETROIT — Regardless of how much time Franz Wagner could potentially miss during the NBA playoffs, the Magic believe they’re prepared to still have success without him on the court.
That’s because Orlando played plenty already without him this year, in fact more than half the season.
Wagner missed 48 games in the regular season due to the extended rehab of a high left ankle sprain and is now dealing with a right calf strain he suffered during the third quarter of Monday’s Game 4 against the top-seeded Pistons that Orlando won to take a 3-1 series lead in the first round.
Although he was officially listed as questionable ahead of Wednesday’s 7 p.m. Game 5 at Detroit, multiple members of the Magic didn’t expect Wagner to be available, including Paolo Banchero, after the German forward didn’t participate in shootaround.
“Calf strain — you don’t want to mess around with that,” Banchero told reporters Wednesday morning inside Little Caesars Arena. “So, I don’t think that’d be very smart.
“We’ve had some guys come off the bench, play well, defend at a high level, so those guys just got to step up and get ready to go,” he added. “Obviously we want Franz to be healthy, that’s the most important thing, but I’m confident that we’ve got guys that can step up. Obviously he’s one of our best players so you’re not going to make up for everything you’re losing with him out, but we’ve got guys that can fill that role and other guys that can step up as well.”
Those “guys” include various bench pieces such as Jamal Cain, Tristan da Silva and Anthony Black.
Cain has thrust himself into Orlando’s rotation down the back-half of the season and filled in for Wagner during the fourth quarter of Game 4 when he notched eight points and nine rebounds across 24 extended minutes.
Meanwhile, da Silva is no stranger for starting in the place of Wagner. It was something he did last season as a rookie when Wagner missed time because of a torn right abdominal muscle and also something he did at various points this year.
The same could be said for Black, who started 40 of his 64 regular-season appearances when Wagner missed time.
Wendell Carter Jr. said Orlando’s approach in the postseason doesn’t change without Wagner, even though this is no longer the regular season.
“It’s the ‘next man up’ mentality,” the Magic center said. “It’s what we’ve stood on ever since I’ve gotten to Orlando. We’ve battled a lot of injuries throughout the year so it’s the ‘next man up’ mentality. The stakes are a little bit higher with it being a playoff game and a possible shutout of the series, but it’s still the same mindset.”
Eighth-seeded Orlando went 25-23 without Wagner in the regular season and 20-14 with him.
He played five of the final six games in the regular season, both of Orlando’s play-in tournament contests and the first four games of Orlando’s best-of-seven first-round series against Detroit.
In the first four playoff games, Wagner averaged 16.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.7 steals during 30.4 minutes per night.
“We’ve been without him for 50 games so we’ve had chemistry and camaraderie built up with him playing or not playing,” Magic guard Desmond Bane said. “I expect us to still come out and be the more physical team and the more aggressive team.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com