JULY 6: Wagner’s maximum-salary extension is now official, according to a press release from the Magic (Twitter link).
JULY 5: The Magic are signing Franz Wagner to a five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (via Twitter). It will be the biggest contract in franchise history.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirms that Wagner’s extension, which will begin in 2025/26, contains Rose rule language. Wagner would need to win MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, or make an All-NBA team in 2024/25 in order to earn a starting salary worth 30% of the ’25/26 salary cap instead of 25%.
Assuming the salary cap rises by 10% in ’25/26, Wagner will earn at least $224MM from 2025-30, with the potential to make about $269MM. ESPN’s Bobby Marks has a year-by-year breakdown of the projected extension (Twitter link).
The No. 8 overall pick of the 2021 draft after two college seasons at Michigan, Wagner has started every game in which he’s appeared for Orlando over his first three NBA seasons. The 22-year-old German posted career highs in several statistics in 2023/24, including points (19.7), rebounds (5.3), assists (3.7) and steals per game (1.1).
In addition to his two-way versatility, the 6’10” forward has been quite durable to this point in his career, only missing 15 of a possible 246 regular season games. Wagner won a gold medal with Germany at last summer’s World Cup and was on the team’s preliminary roster ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, which open in late July. He called the chance to play in the Olympics “a dream come true.”
Wagner is the second player to agree to a rookie scale extension this summer, joining Raptors forward Scottie Barnes, who will also be signing a five-year max deal featuring Rose rule language. Pistons guard Cade Cunningham is also expected to sign a max extension, but the deal has yet to be finalized.
Wagner will earn just over $7MM next season in the final campaign of his rookie scale contract.
Franz = (Nick Anderson + Hedo Turkoglu)/1.5
Hopefully he can help Germany make a run to the medal rounds & wipe the taste of that terrible game 7 performance away before the reg season starts, bc Orlando could be primed for a 50+W season this year if they stay on the same page all season.. link to m.youtube.com
France, Canada, USA, and maybe even the Bahamas say otherwise.
Germany is in the group with France, Japan & whoever wins bw Cameroon/Phillipines/Brazil/Georgia. They should definitely advance out of that group & into the knockout rounds. From there 1 win would put them in the medal rounds. Germany won the World Cup just last yr. They’re definitely good enough.. link to m.youtube.com
And the Tragic continues…..the extend Issac, a guy that can’t stay on the court for more than 20 minutes and 50 games, now they give 50 mill to a guy with a questionable jump shot….next they max suggs, and start spreading rumors about banchero, so they don’t have to pay him the max and he leaves for LA…..
The Magic might have injury language built into Isaac’s contract so it’s hard to fully judge right now. And Wagner was a 48% shooter last season despite shooting 28% from three (~36% the previous two seasons). He’ll be fine so long as he can get back on track there.
What else did you expect them to do, let him walk? No team would do that given the promise he’s shown thus far. Isaac is potentially another matter, but we’ll see there.
Under the new CBA There’s going to be only space for two max contract per team at the most,…..is he a top 60 player in the nba…I don’t know, I hope I’m wrong and this turns out to be a good contract
I don’t think he is right now, but I do think the potential is there for him to become one. And I get the CBA concerns. Just think it’s one of those things you gotta do even if you don’t feel great doing it. You could place worse bets than betting on a guy like him.
I thought they wanted to trade Issac.
The NBA won’t last another 20 years at this rate.
The tv deal is worth 76 billion…these contracts are not even a fraction. You can add up all the super Maxs and it still won’t matter in the end. The product isn’t as exciting to me but they still netted a deal like that. They will be fine.
I would be concerned about the companies giving them the 76B
That is about 230 million per year per team if the teams get all of the money. That is enough for 5-6 “Wagner” type contracts per year.
Kudos to the editor for picking the perfect picture for his contract extension.
Rockets have 4 contract extensions within 1 year
Green
Sengun
Smith
Eason
Green $150m
Sengun $150m
$600 million for 4 players?
Get rid of VanVleet and Brooks?
Not really they have this year to decide on both Green and Sengun and another 12 months after to see what Smith and Eason are worth they won’t extend before next season(I agree value on Green RN). I’m 90% a trade will happen moving one of the former and likely 1 of the latter before the TD.
Too many talented kids on the roster. But if Franz and Cade are worth max, Sengun should be a lock for max. Green needs to show consistency and Smith needs a big jump to get more than role player money.
FVV is a team opt 25/26 so he’ll be gone 100%. Brooks has a decreasing contract(22.2-21.1-19.9) that is looking better with how much others are being paid RN. A contender will go for him before TD……. Hopefully! Looking like good contract for both of them now though, gap filler players to make the team better in short term.
Rockets have Sheppard
On draft day
I suggest that Rockets trade Jalen Green and a future pick to move up and take Clingan
It’s huge cost saving
I like Reed and think he was massively underrated. Green is worth more than #5. And why go for Clingan when they have Sengun they can’t play together. Same with moving up to take Sarr as a PF when he’s projected to be the same type of player as Smith Jr who is still 20? Makes no sense.
Best option is go big game hunting for a top guard making green centrepiece of the deal with a mass of picks and throw in Eason or Whitmore or even Amen?(Brooks and FVV are fair filler/value on top) They have more to offer a team than most in the market if they choose to…
Clingan is top rim protector. That is what Rockets need.
Sengun/Clingan is Comparable to Town/Gobert
Difference is KAT is an elite 3pt shooter Clingan and Sengun are not they’re not even average. Let alone how slow they both are. It would be a floor spacing nightmare. Sengun was a much better paint protector last year than he got credit for, and if he improves further just above average. I would happily choose Smith Jr’s defence and shooting over trying to shoehorn Clingan into that front court just because he’s a good blocker.
Rockets have on paper everything they need. But it’s all speculative if none of them improve to the level they’re expected to.
Isn’t only the Orlando Magic with Banchero, Wagner, Suggs, and Anthony Black. OKC, Houston, Cleveland, San Antonio, and Detroit among others are going to have problems with all these rookies extensions they have to decide who is going to get pay and isn’t Not. I think Orlando did the right thing in max Franz Wagner, also I think some people here MOST read the new CBA agreement between owners and players before makes very silly and ridiculous comments.
The NBA’s personnel markets are the worst in sports, and when it’s combined with the shallowest talent pool this level of the sport has ever seen, this kind of a move is justified based on the NBA’s TINA reality. ORL could, and probably should, have waited a year, but the system and situation are unlikely to change. Next year, like this year, there will be no way for ORL or any other team to replace a player at this talent level (other than dumb luck). A player’s on court value relative to other players only matters if there’s some semblance of a market for player services. There isn’t and hasn’t been one in the NBA for some time, at least not among young or prime age talent.
I may be wrong but I think that is an 11-year deal. I said 20 years. Sports in general lost a lot of casual fans during the corona and can’t get them back. Kids now want to be YouTubers not Athletes.
Disney is a sinking ship already. Ratings are dropping every year. They are moving from TNT. Lebron will be out of the league soon. There isn’t a magic, bird, Jordan or Kobe to replace him. Yet. In no world should Franz Wagner sign a contract for 200 million. And it’s not a knock on him it’s sustainability as a business. You have the Yankees owner who prints money saying the contracts can’t continue. Cuban sold the Celtics are being sold. The writing is on the wall.
How do so many clueless people get control of NBA teams? Front office wise it’s pitiful
Basketball ratings are down, but NFL rating never went down only up. Rating tracking is kind of archaic too because Basketball and baseball are mostly on streaming services. NFL is more tv but Prime and the Netflix special games.
Those owners sold because they are netting 500% increases. Celtics were bought by them for $300million and now selling for 7billion or whatever. Cuban bought the team for little became a billionaire and selling for way more. Only a fool wants to work til death. Owning a team is still a job, screw that cash me out.
The Celtics are the greatest investment in history possibly, making that much in less than 25 years and enjoying 2 championships to boot.
He absolutely should sign that deal. The team, on the other hand, should not be offering it.
If this contact includes the lesser Wagner, then it might be a fair one. Might.
Franz looked like a lost boy last playoffs …. he’s yung, but this is a massive overpay.
Not worth it. Magic have to do it. Right place right time. Can still get better. We’ll see
That’s ridiculous