Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner says he is healthy heading into training camp and looking forward to the changes under new coach Sean Sweeney.
Wagner, who hosted about 100 children at a youth basketball camp Sunday at Game Point Events Center in Orlando, said Sweeney regularly called him while he was in Europe this summer. The forward described the new coach’s communication as direct and honest, adding that the staff will bring changes to how the team operates.
Sweeney was hired in early June after the Magic fired Jamahl Mosley. Wagner and several teammates, including Paolo Banchero, had played their entire NBA careers under Mosley, making Sweeney their second head coach in the league.
“It’s going to be some change and some adjustments for us, how we’re being coached, and that’s where growth comes in,” Wagner said.
The Magic were scheduled to open training camp Tuesday at the AdventHealth Training Center. Wagner enters camp after an offseason focused on recovery from a right calf strain that sidelined him for the remainder of Orlando’s first-round playoff series against Detroit. He said the injury followed a left high ankle sprain that had already cost him a combined 48 games.
Wagner said he spent an additional two to three weeks rehabbing the calf after the season, then took time away to recover mentally and physically. He estimated that it was about six weeks after Orlando’s elimination before he was moving quickly again on the court.
This season will also be Wagner’s first as a professional without older brother Moe Wagner on the roster. Moe Wagner signed with the Brooklyn Nets during the summer. Franz Wagner said he is grateful for his development in Orlando over his first five NBA seasons and sees the new coaching staff as another opportunity for the group to grow.
