Introduction
Franz Jacob Wagner (born 27 August 2001) is a German college basketball player for the Michigan Wolverines of the Big Ten Conference. Standing 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in), he mainly plays the shooting guard position.
Wagner, a native of Berlin, started his career with Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) club Alba Berlin. In 2019, he was named BBL Best German Young Player. Wagner has played for the German youth national teams, winning a gold medal at the 2018 Albert Schweitzer Tournament.
His older brother Moritz Wagner, a former Michigan standout, plays in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Early career
In the 2018–19 season, Wagner played on a dual contract for both Alba Berlin in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), top German league, and SSV Lokomotive Bernau in the third-tier ProB league. In May 2019, he won the BBL Best Young Player Award. In Game 2 of the BBL Finals against Bayern Munich, Wagner scored a team-high 14 points, making all six of his shots. By the end of the season, he was averaging 4.6 points in 12.4 minutes per game in the BBL and played limited minutes in the EuroCup.
Recruiting
Wagner was considered a four-star recruit by 247Sports and Rivals. Among the NCAA Division I programs that recruited him were Butler, Michigan, and Stanford. On July 6, 2019, Wagner committed to play college basketball for Michigan under head coach Juwan Howard. In doing so, he turned down an opportunity to sign a professional contract with Alba Berlin.
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franz Wagner SF |
Berlin, Germany | Germany | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jul 6, 2019 | |
| Overall recruiting rankings: 247Sports: 43 | ||||||
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College career
On 21 October 2019, Wagner fractured his right wrist and was expected to miss four to six weeks. He made his season debut for the Wolverines on 27 November 2019, and finished the game with six points, three rebounds, and one block in 23 minutes in an 83–76 victory over Iowa State in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis. On 6 December, Wagner posted a career-high 18 points in a 103–91 victory over Iowa in its Big Ten Conference season opener, as Michigan had six double-digit scorers, including all five starters.
National team career
Wagner played for Germany at the 2017 FIBA U16 European Championship in Podgorica, Montenegro. In five games, he averaged 7.4 points per game as his team finished in 13th place. In 2018, Wagner averaged six points per game and helped Germany win the gold medal at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament, an under-18 competition in Mannheim, Germany. In the 2019 FIBA U18 European Championship in Volos, Greece, he averaged 13 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, leading his team to 11th place. He missed one game with a back injury.
Honours
- BBL Best Young Player Award: 2018–19
Personal life
Franz is the younger brother of National Basketball Association (NBA) player Moritz Wagner. Moritz played three seasons of college basketball for Michigan and was a first-round pick in the 2018 NBA draft.