{"id":187523,"date":"2026-03-11T18:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T18:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/187523\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T18:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T18:00:07","slug":"franz-wagner-continues-extended-rehab-for-orlando-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/187523\/","title":{"rendered":"Franz Wagner continues extended rehab for Orlando Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday marked three weeks since the Magic<\/a> announced Franz Wagner<\/a> would be out indefinitely and he\u2019d be re-evaluated at the end of that time frame as he continued to manage the extended rehab of a left high ankle sprain.<\/p>\n

When Orlando<\/a> announced Tuesday that the German forward was \u201cprogressing\u201d and that his \u201creturn will continue to depend on how he responds to rehab,\u201d the team didn\u2019t provide a new timeline for Wagner\u2019s potential return or another re-evaluation period.<\/p>\n

Exact timing around Wagner\u2019s rehab is important, because after Wednesday\u2019s matchup between the Magic and Cavaliers<\/a> on ESPN, there are only 18 games remaining in the regular season.<\/p>\n

Simply put, time is running out for Wagner to return to action ahead of the NBA<\/a> postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout going into everything, sometimes when you put a timeline on a guy it can hinder what they\u2019re doing or \u2026 so, we try to just keep it to where we can get to how they respond to what\u2019s happening with them,\u201d Magic coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a> said when asked by the Sentinel about a lack of a timeline. \u201cI think that\u2019s the most important piece because everybody\u2019s body is different.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, when they pull up one day, it might hurt more than the day before and if we put a timeline on it, then it extends the timeline,\u201d he added. \u201cJust being able to see how they respond to treatment each and every single day is the most important piece to see how they feel, and what imaging or whatever test was putting on them, how they respond to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be sure, Wagner is, indeed, progressing.<\/p>\n

For the first time since the NBA All-Star break<\/a>, the 6-foot-10 forward was seen starting an on-court workout with some light shooting near the paint as the media-viewing session of Wednesday\u2019s shootaround was ending.<\/p>\n

Mosley said Wagner has started on-court work but it\u2019s included no physical contact to this point yet. Typically, full contact is the precursor to an injured player\u2019s return to game action.<\/p>\n

Available for only 28 games so far this season, Wagner has averaged 21.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals in 31.8 minutes per night.<\/p>\n

While the team wants Wagner back sooner rather than later, it also won\u2019t look to rush the rehab process. Twice already Wagner has tried to return since suffering the injury Dec. 7 at New York, and both times he\u2019s needed additional time to recover.<\/p>\n

All of it has led to him missing a total of 36 games and being available just four times in the past 40 contests, including Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know how I feel about it, you know how we feel as organization \u2014 their careers are a lot more important than this one moment,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cTo make sure everything is right is the best thing to do. Because we\u2019re thinking longevity more than we\u2019re thinking just this quick moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes we\u2019d love to have him back as soon as possible but we\u2019re not going to do it with the risk of somebody\u2019s career or to what they\u2019re going through overall personally than anything,\u201d he added. \u201cI think that\u2019s more important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the court, Magic forward Jonathan Isaac<\/a> (left knee strain) was spotted going through various shooting drills.<\/p>\n

Both he and rookie guard Jase Richardson<\/a> (low back strain) were able to go through shootaround, Mosley said, and they were upgraded to available for Wednesday\u2019s game against the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

As Wagner continues his rehab, the Magic have a quick turnaround when they host the Wizards on the second night of a back-to-back Thursday at Kia Center.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Wizards<\/p>\n

When: 7 p.m., Thursday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wednesday marked three weeks since the Magic announced Franz Wagner would be out indefinitely and he\u2019d be re-evaluated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,76046,110],"class_list":["post-187523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}