After an up-and-down start to his career in a few stops, Wagner had a renaissance when went to Orlando in 2021, beating out Mo Bamba as the primary back-up center, and has since performed adequately in that role. While Wagner is not the most athletic player, plenty of bigs have learned to overcome their athletic limitations on defense through positional awareness and disciplined verticality. Those kinds of bigs that can protect the rim can stick around in the league, even if they can get picked apart at times by being forced to defend in space. Wagner has been able to make up for some of his limitations by simply playing hard. If Wagner can get to an above-average percentage from three, he could be a solid outside threat in the same manner of Kelly Olynyk or Mike Muscala. Wagner has only hit 32% from three over the past few seasons (consistent with his career rate), but has still found ways to be effective through playing hard on both ends. He has finished decently at the rim, and the personal dynamics of having him in Orlando also works well for his hopes of sticking in the league.

Wagner has an $11 million team option for 2025-2026, and if the Magic decline that option he will be an unrestricted free agent with a $20.9 million cap hold and full Bird rights. As his cap hold exceeds the salary he will get in free agency, his cap hold is not really relevant.  If the Magic re-sign Wagner, his cap hold will be replaced by his starting salary, and the Magic may still have some cap space available depending on his salary and what happens with their other free agents. It's more likely though that the Magic operate over the cap in 2025 and retain some of their own free agents while possibly having the full Non-Taxpayer MLE and the Bi-Annual Exception to add players. Depending on how close the Magic are to the luxury tax after free agency (or on how much cap space they need), if Wagner is brought back by the Magic on a multi-year contract they could benefit from frontloading his contract, as it could give them additional flexibility in the future. If Wagner hits free agency, other teams will have multiple ways to sign Wagner as even teams without cap space could use either the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or possibly even the Room MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also possible that Wagner only gets offers for the minimum.

Andre Drummond (1+1 years, $10 million, 2024) Kelly Olynyk (2 years, $26 million, 2024) Mason Plumlee (1 year minimum, 2024)