The Magic have been typically cagey about the return timelines for Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain) and Moritz Wagner (left ACL surgery recovery), but head coach Jamahl Mosley provided updates on both players on Friday, as Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel relays.
Franz, who last played on December 7, has been doing on-court work with “a little bit of contact stuff,” Mosley said, telling reporters that the forward has been working on his “cardio and conditioning.” As for Moritz, he has participated in some 2-on-2 and 3-on-3 scrimmages and is taking contact as well, according to Mosley.
Although it doesn’t sound like a return to action is far off for either player, Beede notes that there’s still no guarantee either will be available for next Thursday’s game vs. Memphis in their home country of Germany. As Mosley acknowledged, while the Wagner brothers would love to play in that game, the Magic certainly don’t want to rush them back without being 100% sure they’re ready.
“The challenge in that is, you think long term,” Mosley said. “You want them to be ready for that Berlin game. They want to be ready for that Berlin game, and that’s a big key. That’s the ideal world. But then the reality of what we’re facing is the fact that you want them to be ready for the long game as well. We have a long season ahead of us, and you want them to be prepared and as healthy as possible, walking into each one of those games from then on.”
We have more from across the Southeast:
- Trae Young hasn’t played since December 27 due to a right quad contusion, so it’s no surprise that the Wizards ruled him out for Friday’s game after officially acquiring him earlier in the day. However, it’s worth noting that the team’s designation for Young (Twitter link) includes both his quad contusion and a right MCL sprain, the injury that sidelined him earlier in the season. Amid speculation that the point guard may not play a ton during the second half for his new team, it appears that managing that knee issue will be one explanation the team cites for his absences going forward.
- After playing limited fourth-quarter minutes on Wednesday, LaMelo Ball didn’t start for the Hornets on Thursday in order to better position him to be available late in the game, writes Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer. It was the first time Ball had come off the bench since his rookie season. “Just trying to find a way to get more creative with how we manage Melo’s minutes in order to keep him in a good place health-wise,” head coach Charles Lee explained. “And also just coming off of that last game, wanted to find a way that maybe we can have him in at the end of games. It helps us regulate his minutes, and then I thought he was able to play more minutes in the fourth quarter.”
- Veteran NBA assistant Will Weaver, who joined the Hornets in August as a coaching advisor, is in advanced talks to become the next head coach of the Brisbane Bullets, reports Olgun Uluc of ESPN. Weaver has prior head coaching experience in Australia’s National Basketball League, having coached the Sydney Kings from 2019-20 in between NBA jobs.