After winning the World Championship, Franz and Moritz Wagner started successfully into the NBA preseason, while Zion Williamson made a successful comeback. Daniel Theis started from the beginning for the Pacers.
The basketball world champions Franz and Moritz Wagner have started their preseason games for the new NBA season with a victory about one month after their gold triumph in Manila. The German brother duo won the preseason game with the Orlando Magic 122-105 at the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night. While Franz Wagner put up nine points in 15 minutes of action as a starter, Moritz came off the bench to score six points and grab five rebounds in 14 minutes.
At the same time, Pelicans star Zion Williamson celebrated his comeback on the NBA floor: He had not played since 2 January due to a thigh injury. In 15 minutes of action he presented himself in decent early form (twelve points, five rebounds and five assists). “He looked good. He’s unstoppable,” C. J. McCollum was pleased with his teammate’s performance.
The most prolific scorer of the game was Magic centre Wendell Carter Jr, who put up 18 points and five rebounds and thus played a considerable part in the Magic’s opening win of the preseason. Paolo Banchero (12 points, six rebounds) provided one of the highlights of the game, as the No. 1 pick of 2022 slipped a crossover past Williamson before finishing with a thumping dunk over Pelicans centre Jonas Valanciunas.
Theis goes down after Brooks foul
In person of Daniel Theis, a third German NBA professional was called upon on the night. The 31-year-old started for the Indiana Pacers in their duel with the Houston Rockets (103:122) and collected two points, five rebounds as well as two blocks in 18 minutes of play. Midway through the first quarter, the big man went down briefly after being hit in the groin by Dillon Brooks. The Rockets rookie was subsequently sent off with a Flagrant Foul 2.
On 10 September, Theis and the Wagners had sensationally won the World Cup title with the German national team in Manila. With Orlando, the Wagners want to sniff the play-in tournament for the play-offs in the new season, which begins on the night of 26 October with a home game against the Houston Rockets. In the pre-season, the team from Florida only finished 13th in the East.
Franz Wagner, in particular, could make another leap in his third NBA year after averaging 18.6 points last season. Together with the only 20-year-old Banchero, whose US national team defeated the Germans in the semi-finals in Manila, the 22-year-old forms a promising scoring duo.
The reigning champion Denver Nuggets also kicked off their preseason on Wednesday night with a 115-107 win over the Phoenix Suns. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray each played a good 18 minutes on the court, Jokic scored nine points, Murray came up with twelve points and five assists. For the Suns, however, three stars Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal were spared.