The Orlando Magic have secured one of their franchise cornerstones for the long term.
The team has signed forward Franz Wagner to a five-year maximum rookie extension valued at $224 million, which will account for 25% of the team's 2025-26 salary cap in the first year of the deal, according to league insider Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
If Wagner makes the All-NBA team next season, the contract could reach up to $269 million, or 30% of the Magic's 2025-26 salary cap.
The Magic selected the German with the eighth overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, and he is widely considered the best player to come out of the country since Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki.
Wagner's older brother, Mo, also plays as a center for the Magic, having recently agreed to a two-year contract worth $22 million to stay with the team last Tuesday, July 2.
Orlando Magic massively improved last season
The 22-year-old averaged 19.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 72 regular season games as the Magic returned to the NBA playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
Orlando also posted a regular-season record of 47-35 in 2023-24, good for fifth in the Eastern Conference and their best record since the 2010-11 season, when they went 52-30 in the penultimate season of former star Dwight Howard.
However, the Magic were eliminated in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a hard-fought seven-game series.
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