Orlando Magic backup center Moe Wagner is out for the year with a torn ACL, the Magic announced Sunday. The injury came in Saturday's win over the Miami Heat. The loss is substantial in itself. Wagner has grown into one of the NBA's best backup centers. He was averaging 12.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for the Magic, and just as importantly, he made 36% of his 3-pointers on a roster starved for shooting. But Wagner's absence means even more in the context of all of the other injuries the Magic have had to deal with this season.
All-Star forward Paolo Banchero has been out since Oct. 30 with a torn oblique. Franz Wagner, Moe's brother, did a remarkable job of lifting the Magic offense in his stead until he recently suffered an oblique injury of his own. Star defensive guard Jalen Suggs is out with an ankle injury. Gary Harris, the team's veteran shooting guard, has been out since Nov. 25 because of a hamstring issue.
Orlando has done an incredible job of dealing with those absences overall. The Magic are 18-12 and currently seeded fourth in the Eastern Conference. On Saturday, they trailed the Heat by 25 points without all of those players and starting center Wendell Carter Jr., who was ejected, and still managed to come back and win behind 35 points from Cole Anthony.
Orlando is also very deep, especially at center. In addition to Wagner, the Magic signed Carter, Jonathan Isaac and Goga Bitadze to new long-term contracts this offseason. If there is a team in basketball equipped to handle this many absences, it is probably Orlando.
But there comes a certain point when a team just runs out of healthy, usable bodies. The Magic aren't quite there yet, as Saturday's win proved, but they are running out of breathing room in a tight middle of the Eastern Conference. Fortunately, Banchero is doing on-court work, and while an exact timeline for his return isn't known, getting him back solves a lot of problems for a Magic team that is deficient offensively even in the best of times. But losing Wagner stings for a Magic team that looks ready to take a step towards contending in the Eastern Conference. Even if everyone else does make it back on schedule, not having Wagner will make things that much harder for one of the NBA's youngest teams.
