Moritz

Wagner

The injuries continue to pile up for Orlando. Wagner exited early from Saturday night’s game because of the knee injury, and he will be sidelined for the rest of the season. Goga Bitadze and Wendell Carter Jr. will fill out extra minutes at center, giving both of them a strong boost in fantasy value.

Wagner played two minutes before injuring his knee with 2:33 remaining in the first quarter. He has since been ruled out for the rest of the game, and the Magic reserve will undergo further evaluation. Orlando is also without Wendell Carter Jr., who was ejected during the second quarter. Thus, Goga Bitadze must log heavy minutes during the second half.

Few basketball fans, if any, projected matchups between Wagner and Karl-Anthony Towns to be “must-see TV” before the season began. But they have been, with both players producing highlights and quality stat lines in the teams’ two meetings. Wagner went off for a career-high 32 points on Sunday, playing 25 minutes off the bench. Rostered in 27% of Yahoo leagues, he’s worth adding with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner sidelined with torn oblique muscles.

Despite getting beaten soundly by the Knicks, the Magic advanced to the East quarterfinals of the NBA Cup, and Wagner had something to do with that. The 20 points were a season-high, and this was also his first double-double of the season. With Goga Bitadze sitting out Tuesday’s game with a sprained ankle, Wagner will be worth a look in more leagues if Goga misses more time.

On multiple occasions, Wagner has provided solid value off the bench since the Magic lost Wendell Carter Jr. to plantar fasciitis. Monday was another one of those nights, as he finished two rebounds shy of a double-double and shot 70% from the field. Goga Bitadze (six points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block in 22 minutes) remains the superior streamer, but Wagner should not be overlooked in spots where Bitadze is off the board.

WCJ has missed their last 11 games, but there is a chance that he is back in the mix on Monday. If that happens, Goga Bitadze will be pushed to the bench and lose most of his streaming value, while Moritz Wagner will lose out on some minutes as well.

While he wasn’t as prolific as his younger brother Franz, Moritz had a good night against the Pistons. The points were there, but so were the rebounds and assists, an encouraging development for a player ranked outside the top 175 over the last three weeks. Goga Bitadze (eight points, one rebound, one assist, one steal, and three blocks in 18 minutes) remains the preferred streamer with Wendell Carter Jr. sidelined, but Wagner is also of value in deep leagues.

Wagner has been a reliable source of offense off the bench this season, but he was able to set a new season-high for scoring in this game. Unfortunately, he doesn’t contribute much else in other categories, which makes him a difficult player to roster in 9-cat leagues. He’s outside the top-200 despite averaging a career-high 12.6 points per game. He has seen some extra minutes with Wendell Carter Jr. sidelined, but that doesn’t make him a player that must be rostered outside of deeper leagues.

Carter Jr. will miss another game, which means another start for Goga Bitadze, with Moritz Wagner filling out the backup minutes. Bitadze has been the better option in category leagues, but Wagner has been able to provide an offensive punch off the bench.

Goga Bitadze has been the hot streaming option with Wendell Carter Jr. sidelined, but it was Wagner that stepped up in this game. He has now scored in double figures in six straight games, which lines up with WCJ’s injury. Wagner has been able to pour in buckets consistently all season, but he whas stepped things up a bit recently. He isn’t worth consideration in standard leagues, but his points, along with the limited production in other categories, make him worth a look in deeper leagues.