Orlando, FL – The only place Moe Wagner could call home was the Airbnb he wanted so desperately to escape.
Hopefully, this home won’t last too long. None of his previous ones did anyway. But while the young center had already become all too familiar with the heart-sinking phrase “You have been traded” during his three seasons in the NBA, each of his new teams would at least embrace him and let him keep his new roster spot. Until he was shipped off to Boston in March of 2021. It only took nine on-court appearances in a Celtics uniform before that warm welcome turned into a cold shoulder. Wagner’s locker at TD Garden had been cleared before he had a chance to really make it his own.
But this time, he didn’t have a new team to be traded to and fall back on. He had been waived, unemployed, forced to test free agency, and hoped that one day a team would give him the home he no longer had.
Until that day came, the Airbnb would have to do. He found this temporary home in Ann Arbor, not too far from his alma mater, the University of Michigan. And what a home that school had been for him. It’s where he led his Wolverines to an appearance in the NCAA National Championship game. It’s where he became a campus legend and a first-round draft pick. It’s where he had almost everything go his way. Now all he had was this Airbnb.
But did it have to stay that way? Surely, there was some team out there that wanted Wagner’s services enough to move him out of the Airbnb. He’d open the door for just about any team who wanted him. So that’s what he did. Wagner spent a good deal of his week as a free agent inside his Airbnb, looking far and wide to find that team.
He was in that Airbnb when that team, the Orlando Magic, found him.
The Magic, at that point, were a mess. They failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year, and it became apparent that they wouldn’t be able to climb any higher. Their front office knew that. It became clear to them by the 2021 Trade Deadline that to expand their stairway to a championship, they’d have to rebuild the entire locker room. They evicted their three best players and invited a hodgepodge of young projects, expiring contracts and future draft picks. The Magic were now unrecognizable from just a month prior, and they seemed destined for the basement of the Eastern Conference that they, if you really think about it, never truly left.
Even though it was all but certain that their season would end in early April, the possibility of playing for the Magic enticed Wagner enough to where their pitiful postseason outlook didn’t matter as much. Wagner already had a relationship with then-General Manager John Hammond, and there was some comfort in putting his career in the hands of someone he knew for the time being. But most importantly, Wagner wanted another chance to play in the NBA. So he decided he would take that chance with the Magic.
“It was a great opportunity for me,” Wagner told Orlando Magic HQ. “I was excited that someone would take a chance on me.”
A contract was signed, and a home was found. For at least the rest of that season, Wagner’s seat at the NBA’s exclusive table was reserved — and if given the right opportunity, he could feast on his competition. He departed his Ann Arbor Airbnb and made his way to Central Florida, ready to make the most of his new opportunity, whether he was given a five-course meal or just scraps on his plate.
As soon as he made it to Church Street, he realized that he wasn’t the only one in this boat. Just about every one of his new teammates was attempting to navigate the harsh waters of an insecure NBA career, and they were doing so on a team that was still learning how to steer. There were rookies trying to find their footing in the NBA. There were young, struggling lottery picks hoping that the Magic wouldn’t give up on them like their former teams had. There were free agents-to-be without the faintest idea of who would give them their next paycheck. There were veterans who were traded away from teams they spent years and tears playing for, forced to rediscover their roles and lives in a city separate from the ones they built their families in.
No two players on this new Magic squad shared the same backstory, but it became clear that nearly everyone on this funky-looking roster, in some way, was trying to find his way forward.
“I was in a different situation [in Orlando] with a lot of turnover going on,” Wagner said. “[Everyone] was trying to figure it out.”
That road forward for Wagner was paved with several questions. How would he contribute to the Magic? What happens when his contract ends? Would he go back to the drawing board once head coach Steve Clifford draws up his last play of the season?
So many questions. So little time.
But most of those were questions for later. For now, Wagner chose not to let any of those worries about the future get to him. They only had a few games left, so why not enjoy them?
“I honestly tried to come in with a good vibe and try to mesh in as best as possible towards the end of the year, [which] isn’t always easy,” Wagner said. “[I] tried to have a good vibe with the young guys and enjoy those last 10-12 games that I had.”
It was through this positivity and willingness to become part of the team that Wagner emerged as a leader on this new-look Magic squad. His leadership was apparent enough to earn the trust of Clifford and his coaching staff, who rewarded Wagner with the consistent playing time (26.0 minutes per game) that new arrivals typically dream of receiving.
That playing time was put to good use, too. Wagner averaged 11 points off of 40.9% shooting from the field in those final 11 games, ten of which he started. The Magic were still losing those games, but Wagner was winning minutes and the attention of the people in charge. He was playing, up to that point, the best basketball of his career and was wearing a Magic jersey while doing so.
That didn’t mean Wagner evaded all of his future-related worries. His contract expired at the end of the season, and he was hyper-aware that a career-altering offseason lay ahead — but not just for him. Back at Ann Arbor, Wagner’s younger brother Franz had recently ended a season that turned heads all across college basketball. His mastery at off-ball scoring and promise as an unstoppable defender captivated many NBA scouts and earned him a spot on the All-Big Ten Second Team for 2021. A skillset like that could benefit any NBA team — and these teams soon began salivating over the possibility of drafting him.
Franz Wagner decided to give those teams that chance, following in his brother’s footsteps by declaring for the 2021 NBA Draft. The elder Wagner knew what his brother was about to get himself into; he had been drafted just two years before and already went through the grueling process of finding a place to live in a new city he had yet to adjust to. He would hate for his younger brother and closest friend to go through the same thing. To make the transition to the NBA as smooth as possible for his brother, Wagner made himself available to help with all of the drastic life changes that he had to make mostly by himself.
“[The NBA] is a very weird industry for a young person, so being able to go through that together was big,” Wagner said. “But at that point, it was best for him to go to the NBA and everything else came after that.”
The brothers couldn’t know for certain where in the NBA he would go. They wouldn’t know until the actual night of the draft when the younger Wagner, clad in a mustard-yellow suit, sat alongside his parents inside Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, waiting for commissioner Adam Silver to call his name. One by one, names started to be called. The draft had begun. Franz Wagner was on his way to the NBA. All that was left was to wait for a team to make that happen.
The wait was over before long. A team did make that happen.
A team that was already familiar with the Wagner family.
“With the eighth pick in the 2021 NBA Draft,” Silver told thousands from Barclays Center’s podium, “The Orlando Magic select Franz Wagner!”
It was as serendipitous as a selection could possibly be. Franz Wagner was about to start his career on the team that his older brother just finished playing for. But to Moe Wagner, it was more than just a coincidence. It was a step closer to answering the questions he had about his future. The Magic’s decision to draft his brother gave him a unique opportunity that most players never experience: an opportunity to not just build a secure life for himself, but to build one for his entire family as well.
All of a sudden, the elder Wagner’s looming, life-changing contract decision became almost too easy.
“You get the chance to play with your brother and that was something very special,” Moe Wagner said. “It was a great opportunity for me and my brother and my family.”
That summer, Moe Wagner agreed to a two-year deal with the Magic that earned him no more than what the veteran minimum allowed him to receive. This deal was never about the money — it was about being there for his brother every step of the way during the tumultuous beginnings of his new NBA career. It was about having such perfect chemistry with him on the court, and being his best friend off of it. It was about giving his family a chance to settle stateside and see their boys.
And it certainly didn’t hurt to wear the jersey of the team that kept his NBA dream alive and made his brother’s come true.
It has been three years, and none of that has changed. The Wagner brothers are still living and thriving in Orlando — Moe Wagner signed another two-year deal to stay with the Magic after the expiration of his most recent contract — and his whole family calls the city their home. For that very reason, Wagner does too.
Orlando, in a way, represents family to Wagner. Not only does he get to play basketball with his brother, he gets to regularly see the people he loves most. Orlando isn’t just a home for the Wagner brothers: it’s where the Wagner family can continue making the special moments they started making back when the boys were just boys in Berlin.
“Franz and I have lived here now [for] the last three or four years,” Wagner said. “My whole family being able to spend Christmases together, birthdays, all these traditions…it’s very special in this industry.”
And if that’s not home, Wagner doesn’t know what is.
“Coming together with our grandma, our parents, just spending time together makes [Orlando] very homey,” Wagner said. “It has that feel and it keeps rolling.”
It wasn’t just a home that Wagner found in Orlando. For most of his NBA career, Wagner struggled to figure out his place in the NBA. He didn’t have much of an opportunity to do so from the last seat on the bench or the final spot on three different rosters. But the Magic saw something in Wagner that those teams didn’t, and they gave him the playing time to allow Wagner to discover his NBA calling.
And find that out he did. Wagner developed a loud, tough alter ego on the Magic’s parquet court that pushes teammates and ticks off opponents. His uncanny ability to get under a player’s skin earned him a reputation as an enforcer, using his height, strength and confidence to intimidate opponents, sometimes into getting themselves in trouble. Before long, Wagner learned how to toe the perfect line between lovable teammate and a hateable opponent, a skill that only an indispensable few players can ever learn.
This discovery was just what Wagner needed — and he has Orlando to thank for it. In finding his role, he’s found a little bit of himself too. He’s learned what he’s good at, how he can best serve his team, and that it doesn’t matter if that’s how fans talk about him whenever he calls it a career.
“On the court, I don’t really care [how I’m remembered],” Wagner said. “When you think about it, in the grand scheme of things, it’s so irrelevant.”
What he does care deeply about is how he impacts others. He always did. Wagner began his tenure in Orlando by pushing and showing love to his teammates, and he continues to do all he can to make sure everyone on the roster feels like they matter. And he does so in the best way he knows how. Wagner once lauded then-rookie Jalen Suggs after a big game from the young guard by telling Suggs to his face that he’s a “bad motherf***er.” Wendell Carter Jr. and RJ Hampton have praised Wagner’s trash talk and unwavering bravado as an excellent asset that the Magic are lucky to have. Multiple Magic players have claimed that his energy on the court is infectious, and it shows in how they play once he checks in.
It’s all part of playing his new role he learned after he signed with the Magic. And he’s more than happy to do so.
“I always want to be a great teammate and help others,” Wagner said. “That’s all I really care about.”
That expression of love is genuine. He said that he loves his teammates, and getting to see them and play with them every day is part of the reason why he loves playing in Orlando. They’re what gets him out of bed, encourages him to smile on his way to the Kia Center, and keeps him ready and eager to play the best basketball he can. The relationships he’s built in Orlando inspire him to make them feel as happy, comfortable and valued as he does here.
“I really enjoy this,” Wagner said. “I come here every day with a great deal of joy. I enjoy being around these teammates.”
Orlando is a special place to Wagner for all that it’s given him. It gave him his teammates. It gave him his new role. And it gave him an opportunity when no one else would. Wagner played NBA basketball for three teams before Orlando, but there’s an argument to be made that he truly became an ‘
“NBA player” as soon as he first donned a Magic jersey. And since then, he’s found the people and opportunity that evaded him his entire career.
“Being able to figure out a niche, being able to figure out a true role for yourself, having people around you that hold you accountable on a daily basis and want you to learn, want you to grow and bring you together,” Wagner said, “[It’s] a true privilege and I’m very excited to be [where I am right now].”
Orlando helped Wagner grow not just as a player, but as a man too. It forged a tight-knit bond between him and his family by becoming the home for the Wagners. It helped make him a stronger brother by making sure Franz Wagner didn’t have to adjust to a brand new city by himself. It gave him the power to celebrate birthdays, holidays and the company of all of his loved ones without any trouble or travel. It gave him the on-court performances he’ll always remember and the personal moments he’ll never forget. Orlando is where Moe Wagner calls home, and it’s where he’s transformed both his game and his life.
That’s a pretty good outcome for a young player who sat in an Airbnb in Ann Arbor three years ago, wanting nothing more than another chance to play in the NBA.
“I’ve come a long way,” Wagner said.
