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Franz Wagner returns to Magic lineup after 20-game absence

The star forward has been out of the Orlando lineup since suffering a torn right oblique on Dec. 6

Game Recap: Trail Blazers 101, Magic 79

Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner returned to the lineup Thursday after missing 20 straight games with a torn oblique. He led the Magic with 20 points in Orlando’s 100-79 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

 

Wagner and All-Star power forward Paolo Banchero will be paired for just the sixth time this season. Banchero missed 34 games with the same injury as Wagner before returning in late December.

Shooting 34.2%, the Magic lost their fifth straight and seventh of eight games. They were 16-9, a solid third in the East, when Wagner was injured. Thursday night’s loss dropped them to 23-23, eighth in the conference. They are 2-8 since Jalen Suggs injured his back.

“I think it’s gigantic,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We talk about the pieces coming back together, us being whole again, slowly but surely. … With all the standards he has set as a a leader, having him back is going to be big.”

The Magic went 7-13 without Franz Wagner, who played the expected 24 minutes on Thursday. Orlando also lost center Moritz Wagner, Franz’s older brother, to a season-ending knee injury, and Suggs, who missed his 10th game with a lower back strain.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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