For the second time this season, a streaking Orlando Magic team has lost its leading scorer due to injury. And, coincidentally, for the second time this season, that injury happens to be a torn right oblique. The latest happened to forward Franz Wagner, which will sideline him indefinitely, after Paolo Banchero suffered the same injury in late October.
Orlando started the season 3–1 when Banchero was hurt in the fifth game as he was leading the team, and among the NBA leaders, with 29 points per game. While he was given a timeline to return of four-to-six weeks, it’s now been five-and-a-half weeks for Banchero, and he’s yet to even return to practice. Once he got hurt, Orlando preceded to drop five games in a row, until Wagner then asserted himself and took over as the team’s best player.
