Franz Wagner left Wednesday’s game in the third quarter with a left knee injury, then returned to the floor and finished the night in Orlando’s win over the Timberwolves. The forward logged 22 minutes and played through the scare without sitting out the rest of the game.
Wagner scored 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, went 2-of-2 from the line, added two assists, one block and one three-pointer. The injury is being watched closely because he had already missed significant time earlier in the season with a high left ankle sprain, a reminder that Orlando cannot afford another extended absence with two regular-season games left after Wednesday’s win over Minnesota.
That is why the return mattered. Wagner gave the Magic a full workload after the brief exit, and it came at a point in the schedule where every minute carries extra weight. Orlando also got a late-season lift from Paolo Banchero as Franz Wagner returned for the Magic, but the bigger question now is whether the knee issue lingers heading into the final stretch.