Former NBA star was blown away by Orlando Magic star’s performance vs the Atlanta Hawks – and not in a good way.
The Orlando Magic wrapped up their 2024-25 regular season with a 117-105 loss at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks.
However, the Magic had an immediate opportunity to settle the score against the Hawks during their NBA Play-In tournament matchup.
As expected, the Magic came out as the superior team and registered a blowout 120-95 victory to secure the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.
With a chance to secure a playoff berth, most fans expect the best players on the team to take things up a notch in the postseason.
Unfortunately, the bright lights of the postseason got the best of Magic’s Franz Wagner, who had an abysmal shooting night against the Hawks. Former NBA player Channing Frye went off on Wagner’s performance.
“What’s up with my man’s jumper? Oh, Frazn. Franz watched the first half. I’ve never seen a dude air ball at three times he has like, a weird hitch in his shot,” Frye said on the Road Trippin’ podcast.
“Now that I’m like, ‘Hey, you weren’t already a good shooter, and now you got the yips.’ This is not the time to be getting the yips and you’re shooting like that,” he added.
To be precise, Wagner finished the night with 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 assists, but on a 6-of-15 shooting from the field.
On top of that, he went 0-of-5 from the three-point line.
The 2024-25 NBA season was a breakout year for Magic’s Wagner as he averaged 24.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game for the team.
Moreover, his rise to stardom was a key reason behind the Magic reaching the playoffs for the second time in the last three seasons.
While Wagner’s growth was substantial, he did lack at shooting the ball from deep. He is a career 32.2% shooter from the three-point line.
However, this number further fell to 29.5% from deep this season. This is a major flaw in Wagner’s game and could cost the Magic their first round series against the Boston Celtics.
After all, the Celtics are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league and they are reigning champions of the league.
