Magic’s Franz and Moe Wagner named to Germany’s FIBA EuroBasket 2022 roster
Orlando Magic fans will have the chance to watch the Wagner brothers play basketball again before the 2022-23 NBA starts in October.
Franz Wagner and Moe Wagner were named to the German men’s national basketball team’s 16-player preliminary roster for the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 tournament, the organization announced.
Dennis Schröder and Daniel Theis were other NBA players named to the roster.
Germany is co-hosting EuroBasket 2022 group-stage games (Sept. 1-8) with the Czech Republic, Georgia and Italy, with the knockout-stage games being played in Germany from Sept. 10-18.
The Magic’s training camp starts on Sept. 27.
Germany will also play a pair of World Cup qualifying games against Sweden (Aug. 25) and Slovenia (Aug. 28) before EuroBasket. While it isn’t official, Franz and Moe could play in those games.
For Moe, EuroBasket will be a return to the national-team stage after averaging 11 points and 2.8 rebounds for Germany in last year’s Olympics.
It’ll be Franz’s debut on the senior national team after playing for Germany’s youth teams, most recently averaging 13 points and 4.8 rebounds in the 2019 FIBA U18 European Championship.
Franz, the No. 8 pick in last year’s draft, is coming off a stellar rookie season with the Magic. He averaged 15.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 30.7 minutes (79 starts in 79 appearances), finished fourth in the voting for Rookie of the Year that was awarded to Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes and was named to the All-Rookie first team.
Germany will play in its Group B opener on Sept. 1, with group-stage games against Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sept. 3), Lithuania (Sept. 4), Slovenia (Sept. 6) and Hungary (Sept. 7).
Germany won its last medal at EuroBasket in 2005 as the runner-up. Its lone title came in 1993.
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at khprice@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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