{"id":148871,"date":"2025-07-05T12:20:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T16:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=148871"},"modified":"2025-07-05T14:00:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T18:00:06","slug":"moritz-wagner-orlando-magic-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/05\/moritz-wagner-orlando-magic-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic Re-Sign Fan-Favorite Center On 1-Year Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magic Center Moritz Wagner<\/a> has re-signed with the team on a one-year, $5 million contract. Orlando believes the fan-favorite will be healthy and contributing around Christmas after tearing his ACL last season.<\/p>\n

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Dec 19, 2024; Orlando, Florida, USA; -Orlando Magic center Moritz Wagner (21) shoots s free throw against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Orlando Magic Resign Center Moritz Wagner on 1-Year Contract for $5 Million<\/h2>\n

Every Magic fan remembers December 21, 2024 – it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, as they say. The injury-plagued squad were playing their division rivals Miami Heat<\/a> in the absence of Paolo Banchero<\/a>, Franz Wagner<\/a>, Jalen Suggs<\/a> and Gary Harris<\/a>. Early in the first quarter Moe Wagner, the energetic center who averaged 12.9 points last season, went down with a left knee injury – later confirmed to be a torn ACL. The Magic – losing another<\/em> center when Wendell Carter Jr<\/a> was ejected at halftime – were down 25 points at home, deflated, shocked, and discouraged.<\/p>\n

Cole Anthony<\/a> then led Orlando’s bench to victory in one of the most legendary, improbable comebacks in franchise history<\/a>, scoring 27 of his 35 points in the second half to defeat Miami 121-114. Exhausted and saddened by their teammate’s season-ending impairment, Anthony dedicated the win to Wagner and their loyal fan base.<\/p>\n

Fast forward more than six months, and team president Jeff Weltman has delivered on his promise to surround their budding superstars Banchero and Franz with a win-now supporting cast<\/a> by trading for Desmond Bane<\/a> and signing Tyus Jones<\/a>. Hard-capped at the first apron, the Magic were reaching their payroll threshold with Banchero’s max extension imminent.<\/p>\n

Gambling that Moe would be inclined to stay with his brother Franz on a beefed-up group ready to feast in the East, they declined his team option ($11 million) and re-signed him to a one-year, $5 million contract. Terms also include a no-trade clause. Until his expected return around Christmas, Carter Jr. and Goga Bitadze<\/a> will run the five spot.<\/p>\n

How is Wagner’s ACL Rehabilitation Going?<\/h3>\n

“It will be ready when it’s ready,” Moe recently stated on the OMR Podcast<\/a>, speaking about his knee. In daily 2.5-hour strength training sessions, he had to “learn to walk, so to speak.\u201d He also stated, “Soon I’ll be running. I prioritize that pretty heavily. You put so much time into it…so you’re not risking anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

After staying with family in Germany, Wagner has returned to the US. Following a brief and well-deserved vacation, Magic staff expect his attendance in training camp. Team doctors cleared him for full participation.<\/p>\n

How Does Wagner View His Current Role and Contract?<\/h3>\n

“I didn’t think about it much,” said Wagner of this offseason’s contract negotiations. “I try to distract myself a little\u2026I have to be honest and say that I used to be really stressed out in the past, and that’s because I wasn’t really sure of my own worth, my role in the team or whether I was valued at all – and that is different this year. I’ve developed a unique self-confidence in my skills…I’m very good at it [basketball]. I know what I’m worth. I am totally relaxed about it.”<\/p>\n

For the Magic faithful, Wagner’s new contract and renewed optimism are icing on the cake for what is the most welcome offseason progression in recent memory. The 28-year-old was making a strong case for Sixth Man of the Year before going down. He has a unique gift for burrowing under opponents’ skin with his physicality. His comeback could join their 2024 defeat of Miami as one of the greatest in Orlando’s history.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magic Center Moritz Wagner has re-signed with the team on a one-year, $5 million contract. Orlando believes the fan-favorite will be healthy and contributing around Christmas after tearing his ACL last season. Orlando Magic Resign Center Moritz Wagner on 1-Year Contract for $5 Million Every Magic fan remembers December 21, 2024 – it was the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5579,"featured_media":148887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,3,17],"tags":[50219,1532],"class_list":["post-148871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-news","category-magic","tag-2025-nba-free-agents","tag-moritz-wagner"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148871"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148905,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148871\/revisions\/148905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}