Michigan Basketball: Loss of Franz Wagner a tough start to 2019-20 season

Michigan Basketball will be without Franz Wagner to start the season after the freshman fractured his wrist, putting his non-conference season in jeopardy.

Injury news is never good, especially before a season actually commences. But that’s what Michigan Basketball is dealing with in the wake of an injury to prized freshman Franz Wagner.

Wagner fractured his right wrist this week, according to the school. He is expected to make a full recovery, but he is slated to miss the next 4-to-6 weeks with the injury. That means he’ll likely miss the brunt of the Wolverines’ non-conference schedule.

For those who recognize the last name, there’s a good reason: Franz Wagner is the brother of recent Wolverines star Mo Wagner, currently trying to stick in the NBA with the Washington Wizards. He averaged 14.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game during his junior year, earning Second Team All-Big Ten honors and a first-round draft selection from the Los Angeles Lakers.

But this isn’t about Mo. This is about Franz and what his loss means to Michigan going forward.

The small forward from Germany was rated as a four-star prospect by 247 Sports, ranked just outside the Top 100 of prospects in the Class of 2019. He entertained interest from Butler and even got an offer from Stanford, but he committed to his older brother’s school on July 6, just months after Juwan Howard took over as the coach of his alma mater.

Wagner was one of two four-star recruits in Michigan’s class, with small forward Cole Bajema being the other one.

Wagner played professionally in Germany last year, earning BBL Best German Young Player honors. He even led his team in scoring during one of the BBL Finals tilts, scoring 14 points when the lights were brightest.

He has also played for various youth national teams for his country.

There was a chance Wagner was going to start for the Wolverines, but the wrist injury obviously ended that possibility. Instead, Brandon Johns Jr. will slide into the starting lineup and try to carve a permanent spot in the rotation, something he has yet to be able to do in Michigan.

Wagner may need some time to work on his conditioning and get game-ready once he’s back from his injury. Unfortunately, with his timeline, the freshman may be thrown into the thick of conference play when he’s able to return.

On the optimistic side of things, say Wagner returns in around four weeks. He wouldn’t really miss any critical games, outside of the Gavitt Tipoff Games match against Creighton. All of the games over the next four weeks are at home and include opponents such as Appalachian State, Elon and Houston Baptist.

The two weeks after that are when things get harder for Michigan. They’ll play in the Battle 4 Atlantis (always one of the more prestigious early-season tournaments) and travel to Louisville in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge before playing a couple of conference games. Having Wagner back for that stretch will be critical.

Until Franz Wagner returns, Juwan Howard’s team will look to weather the storm.