Orlando, FL - “We drafted who?”

That was all most Magic fans could think after Adam Silver announced who would move to Central Florida as the eighth overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. And it wasn’t a name they wanted to hear. Instead of taking scoring weapon James Bouknight or the high-upside Moses Moody, they took…Franz Wagner? The kid from the University of Michigan who was projected to be nothing more than a role player? It seemed like a joke. Another draft pick that would find themselves warming up our bench and commanding the tank for Chet Holmgren or Paolo Banchero the following year. The fans let their feelings known. They boo’d the pick, called for Jeff Weltman and John Hammond to be fired, and wished that anyone else shook Silver’s hand on stage as the newest member of the Orlando Magic. Even Wagner’s biggest defenders did not see elite-level talent in the German forward, especially since he was now forced to compete with players like Chuma Okeke and eventually Jonathan Isaac for minutes on a team with too much young talent. It would be very hard for him to prove he was anything other than a halfway-decent forward. I was one of those doubtful believers in Wagner, even writing back in August that he “probably won’t be a superstar,” but adding that “he is still very, very good” and “he looks to be a great basketball player, especially for a team like Orlando.” Now, in January, with 41 games played at the time of writing this article, I must admit that I was wrong.

Franz Wagner is going to be a superstar.

Well, okay. Maybe superstar is too early to tell. But the Deutschland Demigod has proven himself to be the Magic’s best rookie since future all-star Victor Oladipo back in 2014. And I’d argue he’s even better. The boy from Berlin is a clear man among boys in the bright lights of the NBA, averaging 15.7 points per game on 45% from the field, the former of which is the highest of all first-year players. He also leads all rookies in total field goals made with 241 and is in fourth place in three-pointers made with 53. Such scoring numbers are very impressive for a mere rookie, especially for one who struggled mightily in the Summer League and in the preseason. But Franz Wagner is not just a mere rookie. He is a scoring threat from all areas of the court with the confidence of a seasoned veteran. He has even had multiple signature performances in his short NBA career, such as his 28-point victory in Minnesota, his 27-point performance in a loss to Philadelphia, or his 38 points against the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks, the most amount of points any rookie has scored in a single game. And let’s not forget that he has finished in double-figures for the entire month of December, a feat so incredible that it awarded him the title of best Eastern Conference Rookie for that month and placed him firmly in this year’s Rookie of the Year race, alongside the likes of Scottie Barnes, Evan Mobley, and number one overall pick Cade Cunningham. Barring any major setback, he will definitely make the All-Rookie First Team at the end of the season, and that’s only the beginning. There is no telling how good this twenty-year-old phenom will become.

But scoring is not Wagner’s only talent. He has shown flashes of being a solid playmaker as well, as he currently possesses a positive assist-to-turnover ratio and a turnover percentage of just under 10%. He’s currently fifth place among rookies this season in total assists with 106. His playmaking is good enough to where he’s been frequently used as a pick-and-roll ball handler with Wendell Carter, Jr., an experiment that somehow seems to be working well. He has good passing vision and knows how to spot the open man, something I did not give him enough credit for in my previous piece on him. One thing I did give Wagner credit for, however, is his defensive ability. It hasn’t always been perfect, as his defensive box plus/minus is just -0.7. But those can be chalked up to just rookie mistakes, as his flashes of excellent defense are there and show in the stat sheet. Wagner finds himself in second place among rookies in total steals and fifth in total blocks, both of which are very promising. With time, Franz Wagner can prove himself to be just as good on defense as he is on offense, something that would propel him into star status.

While Wagner has gotten off to a great start to his season, the Orlando Magic have not. The team has only managed to win 7 games at the time of writing this article, firmly placing them as the worst team in the NBA. But none of that is Franz Wagner’s fault. Injuries and COVID-19 have decimated the Magic unlike any other team throughout the season, leaving Wagner as the team’s only core player to not miss substantial time thus far. And it seems that way among his competition too. “OnlyFranz,” as Magic fans call him, is the only rookie to not just play in all of his team’s games so far, but start in them as well. And he has made the most of his situation, still putting up numbers that most rookies could not even fathom. If he could do that playing alongside the likes of Tim Frazier and Freddie Gillespie and carry the Magic in the process, imagine what he could do with Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac. The Orlando Magic will be a team to fear going forward, and that skinny kid from Michigan many thought was going to bust will be the one to lead the way.

While I admit that I was wrong about Wagner’s ceiling being just “very good,” I was right about one thing. I concluded that article by writing, “I’m certain that the boos we gave him on [draft night] will be replaced with cheers very soon.” And they have. Magic fans have grown to love Franz Wagner for his scoring, his availability, his offensive versatility, his introverted swagger, and his consistency. Whether or not he becomes the first player to win Rookie of the Year in a Magic jersey since 2001, it is almost unanimous that Wagner is one of the best things to happen to Orlando in a long, long time. But no one thought it would end up that way. Some even believed that the younger Wagner would, at best, be overshadowed by his older brother, Moritz, who also plays for the Magic. And when watching his performance in both the Summer League and the preseason, it seemed as such a fate was a real possibility. But he proved that he is no one’s little brother. He is Franz Wagner, the German boy who was boo’d by his new team’s fans, and the man who will soon become the face of the Orlando Magic.