Orlando’s Franz Wagner adds to his All-Star case with game-winning 3 over Lakers

LOS ANGELES — The shot is what fans will remember; Franz Wagner called it the biggest of his young NBA career.

For the Orlando Magic, however, the real story is all that led up to the shot.

On Thursday, the Magic’s star forward capped one of the best games by an Orlando player in recent memory — and possibly made his own All-Star history — with a game-winning 3-pointer over Cam Reddish with 3.1 seconds left, sending the Magic to a 119-118 victory over a Lakers team that had won six straight.

The shot gave him 37 points and 11 assists on the night, capping the first 35-point, 10-assist outing by a Magic player in more than 20 years.

However, this was not just something that appeared out of the blue. Talk to the Magic about Wagner’s practice habits, work ethic and approach to the game, and it becomes clear that no one was surprised by his performance … or that he could lead the team to seven wins in its last eight games in the absence of star forward Paolo Banchero with a torn oblique muscle.

“He’s been doing this for a while,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “He has continued to step into that role where he has to dominate and be the focal point.”

It’s not like he hasn’t had big moments before, either. Wagner was a key player on the German team that won the 2023 World Cup, hanging 22 on the U.S. in a semifinal win and 19 in the gold medal game against Serbia. But on an NBA stage, this was his breakout moment.

So when Anthony Davis left the door open for the Magic by missing two free throws with 18 seconds left, Wagner grabbed the ball from Goga Bitadze and the other Orlando players got out of the way and watched him operate, confident in the job at hand. done to prepare for this.

“People talk about good (shots), bad (shots), lucky, unlucky,” Mosley said. “He’s working on it. That’s the thing, he’s working on the big shots, 3 … 2 … 1 … take the shot.”

Wagner wanted to get a more advantageous matchup than having Davis’ monstrous presence on him, so he engineered a trade to get Reddish instead — still a big, long defender. He originally hoped to seek a path to the basket to take advantage of the long-range skills that have made him a star, but when he didn’t see a clear opening, he went for Plan B and came to his stride. goes to the left of the game winner.

“We were down two, I was lucky they missed a couple of free throws at the end and we had no timeouts,” Wagner said. “At first I had (Anthony Davis) on me and found a way to push that matchup a little bit. They were set up pretty well so I didn’t really see any driving lanes.

“I was thinking about the best shot (and not just shooting the 3). I would have taken it to the basket, too, but I didn’t see any lanes and I was a little taller than Red, so I tried to shoot over him.”

But again, don’t just focus on this play and this shot. Instead, look at everything leading up to it, from the work he did this summer on that 3-point shot, to the first half he spent patiently attacking LA’s defense with skip passes to the weak side, to the playoffs’ situations. he practiced in practice. And look at him after the shot went in, too: He punched his chest, but then marched to the bench, cold as ice, and pointed a single finger at everyone for one more stop. It wasn’t until Davis’ last shot went awry that he pumped a fist, chest-bumped Jalen Suggs and Jett Howard and was quickly mobbed by the rest of the bench.

The fourth-year forward known as “Boogie” in the locker room has averaged 27.5 points, 6.3 assists and 6.0 rebounds over his last 10 games, all of which came without Banchero. The 37 points were a season high and the 11 assists a career high, but he’s threatened those totals several times in the last two weeks — this wasn’t a wild outlier.

So the story is not that this one shot happened to catch the net. It’s that the 6-foot-10 forward’s ball skills developed to the point where he basically serves as the team’s point guard, and that his scoring is so potent that everyone in the building knew he got the ball on the last two possessions (he also drove for a layup with 20 seconds left), and he still scored.

No one understands that more than his older brother, housemate, carpool partner and Magic teammate, Mo Wagner.

“He did well,” the elder Wagner said. “If he doesn’t make that shot, I’ll kick his a—.”

Then he added more seriously: “It’s very cool to have a superstar in your family. It’s amazing, the way he works, how determined he is, how diligent he is, how obsessed he is, it’s unbelievable. The fact , that I can see it is also amazing.”

And it was perhaps fitting that he won the game on an off-the-dribble 3-pointer, the skill that gave him the most trouble in 2023-24 as he dropped to 28.1 percent from distance. That percentage includes a game-tying, last-second attempt in the same building a year ago that was blocked by LeBron James.

“Many things are also mental for us players,” said Franz Wagner. “For me, it means a lot to get over the jump over the summer and take it into the season.

“I’ve come a long way since coming into the league, (but) last year was a struggle for me at times. Progress is never just linear; you just have to stay awake.”

After the sweet payback of Thursday’s shot, he’s back at 34.4 percent in 2024-25. And that’s despite Banchero’s absence often leaving him with a more challenging mix of shots off the dribble, like the one that beat the Lakers.

“I work a lot on my off-the-dribble 3 and you work on it in those moments,” he said. “I just stepped into it with confidence.”

And after that shot, and Jonathan Isaac’s defense to block a desperation shot by Davis at the buzzer, the Magic stormed onto the court to celebrate what could end up being a decisive win for this new group … as well as one that helps Wagner netting a first All-Star trip.

“Yeah, Boogie is special,” Suggs said. “It was like a movie moment.”

“It was a crazy experience, crazy adrenaline rush,” Wagner said. “It’s great to see your teammates so happy for you.”

(Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)