Wagner’s rocky rookie year taught him plenty about NBA
Former first-round pick ready to establish himself
PHILADELPHIA — Moritz Wagner’s first impression of life in the NBA taught him a valuable lesson.
Wagner, a 2018 first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Lakers, had practiced only a few times in his new city before he saw teammate Thomas Bryant get waived. Wagner and Bryant had played against each other for years and had developed into promising centers while rivals in the Big Ten Conference. Wagner knew the beast Bryant could become, but suddenly the Lakers were getting rid of him after only one season.
“First of all, the league is crazy,” Wagner said. “I remember that was one of my first practices, and Thomas got cut. I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’ It was just like my welcome to the league.”
Wagner’s rocky 2018-19 season started with that moment, and it didn’t improve much. Wagner spent much of his rookie year in the G League before he, too, was cast away by Los Angeles after one year, via a trade to Washington so the Lakers could make room for the salary of new addition Anthony Davis. Adding salt to the wound, Wagner, who’s from Berlin, was left off the German national team for the FIBA World Cup. Wagner said it was the first time in his career that he did not make a basketball team.
“Hey, man, sometimes stuff just doesn’t work out,” he said. “So it was a weird feeling at first, but it was a blessing. There was a silver lining in a sense of that I could move to D.C. earlier and kind of get used to everything and kind of get a head start on
Season opener training camp, be fully healthy and just mentally get locked into one thing.”
Just 22 as the start of his second pro season nears, Wagner already has learned how unforgiving big-time basketball can be.
The Wizards’ preseason results mean little, but Wagner seems set to establish himself in the NBA. On Friday, as the Wizards won their finale 112-93 at the Philadelphia 76ers — who played their normal rotation sans Ben Simmons (back) — Wagner backed up Thomas and finished with 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting in 12 minutes.
During a four-minute stretch in the second quarter, Wagner matched up with all-star center Joel Embiid: He scored on him twice (with a spin move in the paint and a catch-and-shoot three-pointer) and drew a charge. Wagner also moved well without the ball, often diving to the rim or popping free beyond the arc after setting a screen.
Wagner left the game with 1:03 remaining in the third quarter after taking a Flagrant 1 foul from Embiid. Wagner drove past the big man but absorbed contact while in the air and fell to the court. He grabbed his tailbone and winced in pain, then exited the floor with the trainer and did not return.
Wagner averaged 15.8 points in the preseason.
“He’s really gaining some confidence, I think, out of this exhibition season,” Coach Scott Brooks said recently.