Franz Wagner (22) poses for a portrait during media day. He's entering his second season with the Orlando Magic. (Willie J. Allen Jr., Orlando Sentinel)
Second-year forward Franz Wagner is expected to be available for the Orlando Magic’s Thursday preseason matchup at the San Antonio Spurs.
Wagner, who was named to the All-Rookie first team and finished fourth (two third-place votes) in voting for Rookie of the Year that was awarded to Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes, sat out of the Magic’s preseason-opening loss to the Memphis Grizzlies Monday.
The Magic are monitoring Wagner’s preseason workload after a month-long, summer run with Germany men’s national basketball team, which included playing in friendlies, 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers and EuroBasket 2022 — a tournament in which Germany won the bronze medal after defeating Poland on Sept. 18 at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin.
Wagner averaged 15.2 points, 4 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 26.6 minutes (9 games) in EuroBasket.
Orlando will play the Mavericks in Dallas Friday to wrap up the back-to-back.
“We’ll make sure he’s working his way back the right way,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley told the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s going to be [about] how his body responds to that first game more than anything.”
The Magic conclude their preseason slate with home games vs. the Grizzlies (Oct. 11) and Cleveland Cavaliers (Oct. 14).
This story will be updated.
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at khprice@orlandosentinel.comor follow him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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Originally published at Tribune News Service