Magic hold first practice in Berlin as Wagner brothers return home

Jason Beede, Orlando Sentinel on Jan 13, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

The Magic held their first practice at Max-Schmeling-Halle arena in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday ahead of Thursday’s game against the Grizzlies.

Orlando star forward Franz Wagner, who has missed the last 16 games due to a left high ankle sprain, went through practice with his teammates and shared how he felt afterward.

“I feel good,” Wagner said. “It felt good to move a little bit after the long flight. And I’m excited for Thursday.”

Whether or not he can play against Memphis, Wagner understands just how massive of a moment it is for his home country when the NBA holds its first regular-season game in Germany later this week.

“It’ll be really cool,” he said. “It’s going to be a great day not just for everybody at the game but I think for German basketball in general. So, I’m excited to be a part of that.”

His older brother, Moe Wagner, agrees with the sentiment.

More than 250,000 fans registered their interest in tickets to the game in Berlin, the highest demand ever for an NBA game in Europe, according to the league.

“Regardless if he plays or not, I think just generally the body of work is so big and significant that it doesn’t really matter if he plays or not,” Moe Wagner said. “I don’t think there should be too much on that. Health is the most important thing and the reason we’re here is him. You know? So, I don’t think we should put too much pressure on the fact whether he’s playing or not. We’ll enjoy it either way.

“Actually playing is the smallest part,” he added. “We’re here driving through the city, we’re seeing our friends (and) we’re combining our two worlds together. That means the world to us. So, that’s the main thing for me.”

Moe Wagner understands how important health is more than most players in the Magic locker room.

The 6-foot-11 center played in his first game in more than a year Sunday after recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee. In his first game back, Wagner notched eight points, two rebounds and two assists in 10 restricted minutes.

“(My) body feels good,” the Magic center said when asked how he felt days after his first game back. “The rehab process itself isn’t over yet just because you start playing, so I’m still adjusting. But overall, I would say I got out of it pretty good.”

After welcoming Moe Wagner back with open arms, the Magic hope to get Franz Wagner back soon, too.

Orlando has gone 8-8 since the forward went down Dec. 7 at New York. In that stretch, the team’s offensive rating (112.5) sat 22nd league-wide, defensive rating (116.0) was 21st and net rating (minus-3.5) was 25th, according to NBA.com.

In the 16 games before Franz Wagner’s injury, the Magic were 10th league-wide in offensive rating (117.6), fifth in defensive rating (111.3) and seventh in net rating (plus-6.3), per NBA.com.

Getting him back won’t solve all of Orlando’s problems — the team has also been without Jalen Suggs for 12 of the last 14 games — but even Franz Wagner has noticed the team slow down on both ends of the court when watching from the sidelines since his injury.

“I think we’ve got to find a (way) a little bit back to our identity, play a little better defense and continue to work on our halfcourt offense and figure out how we can be more effective,” Wagner said.

While the focus for Orlando (22-18) is to handle its business on the court against Memphis (17-22), the experience so far off the court has been surreal as well.

“Once the practice starts and game starts, you kind of want to keep the main thing, the main thing,” Moe Wagner said. “But driving through the streets with the team bus and all of that stuff, it’s really cool.”