Moritz Wagner is celebrating an emotional comeback in the NBA after a break of more than a year – just in time for Orlando’s guest appearance in his hometown of Berlin.
Orlando celebrated an important victory in the fight for the playoffs on Sunday evening (January 11, 2026 / local time) with a 128:118 win against New Orleans. The highlight of the game, and not just from the perspective of German basketball fans, occurred in the first half: Three minutes before the end of the first quarter, Moritz Wagner came on as a substitute and made his comeback after a serious knee injury and a 13-month break, which, among other things, cost him his participation in the European Championships.
The return of the Berliner, who is also popular in Orlando, was correspondingly emotional; almost the entire arena celebrated him with a standing ovation. Wagner noticed a certain nervousness in the first few minutes on the floor, but he quickly got over it: At the beginning of the second quarter, he fueled himself in the zone and scored his first points – plus an extra free throw because he also fouled his opponent Zion Williamson.
Moritz Wagner: “Big burden lifted”
During his comeback after a long break, Wagner’s minutes of action were measured out; in the end, the “big man” was on the floor for ten minutes and scored 8 points and 2 rebounds. What was more important, however, was that the period of suffering was over for the older of the two Wagner brothers.
“It means a lot to me that this is now behind me. A big burden has been lifted from me,” Wagner said after the game. “I tried to hide the emotions as much as possible, to take it like a normal game. Now the next games are coming, I’m just happy about that.”
“It’s great to see him back on the pitch”said his brother Franz Wagner. “The whole family was nervous beforehand. We tried to support him the whole time. I’m very relieved that it went so well.”
Moritz Wagner’s comeback – just in time for the NBA Berlin Game
Moritz Wagner’s comeback couldn’t come at a better time for Orlando: Immediately after the game, the team headed to Berlin, where the first of two European guest games is scheduled for Thursday Magic against the Memphis Grizzlies scheduled. The Wagner brothers come from Prenzlauer Berg; they were both trained at the Alba Academy before starting their world career.
Franz Wagner now has the best-paying contract of any German N.B.A-Professionals of all time. However, the German superstar has been missing since the beginning of December due to an ankle injury. “I’ll come back as quickly as possible. Hopefully already in Berlin”said Franz Wagner: “Regardless of whether I play or not, it will be a very special moment for Mo and me. We used to go to this hall as little children and watch the professionals.”
However, according to the latest announcements from Orlando, a deployment is considered unlikely. If, of all things, neither of the two Wagner brothers could have played in the expensively marketed “NBA Berlin Game” – remaining tickets on the official NBA portal from 1,300 euros upwards – it would have been tantamount to a PR catastrophe.
Especially since the Orlando franchise is now considered a kind of German NBA branch. With Tristan da Silva, another German national player is on the Magic team. Da Silva, one of the big discoveries at the European Championship triumph in September, definitely aroused anticipation for the appearance in Berlin: in the win against the Pelicans, he hit four of five attempts from “downtown” and scored a strong 16 points.