Magic’s Moritz Wagner suffers potential season-ending knee injury

During this weekend’s Florida derby between Orlando and Miami, Moritz Wagner suffered an injury that might leave him out of action for the rest of the 2024-25 campaign. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the German international won’t recover from his knee pains this current season. 

This clearly comes as a huge blow for the Magic organization, who have already lost Paolo Banchero for almost two months already, and Franz Wagner as well, both with torn obliques. The Orlando squad will now have to do without three of their four-best scorers.

Moritz, who was strategically coming off the bench as the squad’s sixth man, was averaging 12.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest. His season-ending ACL tear happened during the first half of the Magic’s 121-114 victory against the Heat on Saturday.

Moritz Wagner underwent an MRI today and results revealed that Wagner has sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Wagner will undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season. pic.twitter.com/kfWhIi0VaX

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) December 22, 2024

“We’re all praying for him. This one was for Mo,” teammate Goga Bitadze told the press after their win this weekend. “It’s really bad to see one of our brothers go down. Like we’ve been saying, ‘Next man up.’ But this guy deserved better than this.”

The big man then added: “I call him a one-man army. We were all playing for Mo. You look at the crazy numbers he’s had this season. Sixth man, definitely.”

The Florida club has started off this campaign with a solid 18-12 start, but the team’s injuries will definitely affect their performances. Without the Wagner brothers and Banchero, Orlando will be missing out on an average of 66.3 points per game.

When will Paolo Banchero recover from his injury?

While the Magic survive their current rash of injuries, which might threaten their playoff hopes, or at least their seeding, the team hopes Banchero will return soon from injury. While the forward is still progressing in his rehabilitation, he still isn’t working on contact drills.

Now that Orlando is set to face the competition without them, most of the offensive responsibility will fall over Jalen Suggs’ shoulders. The player has been averaging 16 points and 3.9 assists per match so far.

Standing fourth in the Eastern Conference standings, the Florida team will hope their strong defense will carry them through this rough stretch. In the coming weeks, the Magic are set to face four-straight crucial matches against the Celtics, Knicks, Heat again, and the Nets.