The Orlando Magic have dealt with the loss of one star and, starting Sunday night, they have to deal with the loss of another.
The Magic will meet the visiting Phoenix Suns without forward Franz Wagner, who tore his right oblique in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.
Wagner joins Paolo Banchero on the sidelines. Banchero, who could return later this month, has been out since Oct. 30 with a similar injury. Wagner will be re-evaluated in four weeks, the team announced Saturday.
In Banchero’s absence, Wagner became the top option for the Magic and is having a breakthrough campaign with 24.4 points, 5.7 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game. He also set a career high with nine straight games with 20 or more points.
Orlando has won seven of its past nine games amid Wagner’s rise and are 13-7 without Banchero.
“This is a great challenge for us,” Wagner said Friday night, per the Orlando Sentinel, before the specifics of his injury were known. “We’re a young team trying to find our way in this league and trying to find ways to win even with different circumstances.”
The Suns have lost two in a row and will be without star Kevin Durant, who is out with an ankle sprain.
Phoenix is 1-8 without Durant in the lineup.
Durant has played in 13 games this season and is averaging 25.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists.
Devin Booker is the only member of the Suns’ “Big Three” to play in all 22 games. The four-time All-Star guard is averaging 24.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists, and shooting 90.4 percent from the free-throw line. Guard Bradley Beal missed two weeks in November before returning before Thanksgiving. He is averaging 17.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 14 games.
Sunday will be the third game of a four-game road trip for the Suns, and the Magic will be happy to be home, where they are 9-0. Orlando has played the most road games of any NBA team so far this season (16, going 7-9).
“I think we have battled through the entire time,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said Friday after the loss to the Sixers. “Through this entire road trip, we never stopped fighting. We played hard for 48 minutes to give ourselves a shot in every game.”
Orlando has the No. 1 defense in the NBA, allowing 103 points a game. The scoring burden now likely will fall to point guard Jalen Suggs and center Moritz Wagner, Franz’s brother.
Orlando downed the Suns 109-99 on Nov. 18 in Phoenix and has won three of the past five meetings between the two clubs.
–Field Level Media
