Olympics Player Rankings: Magic's Franz Wagner Ahead of LeBron James?

Is Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner among the best players in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris?

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) defends Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner (22) during the first quarter at Amway Center. / Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports

Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner will be on the grandest stage of his career when he represents Germany in the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Coming off a strong third season that earned him a five-year $224 million extension, one can argue Wagner is among the best players playing this summer, but will that hold true over the entire 2024-25 season?

In ESPN's projections for the players in the Olympics, they projected Wagner to be the 10th-best in the 2024-25 season. For ESPN's rankings, they used Estimated RAPTOR to measure a player's effectiveness and Basketball-Reference's Simple Projection System as a part of their model.

With being ranked 10th, Wagner was ahead of players like LeBron James (12th), Kevin Durant (13th), Victor Wembanyama (15th) and Steph Curry (16th).

"It isn't every day when a 22-year-old hits the benchmarks that Wagner reached last season," ESPN writes. "He joined Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, Tracy McGrady and Kevin Garnett as the only players since the 1976 NBA-ABA merger to rank in the 60th percentile of NBA players or better in points per 100 possessions, assist rate, turnover rate, rebound rate and defensive RAPTOR."

His brother, Magic center Moe Wagner, was one of the players who just missed cracking the top 20.

Franz, 22, was the only player for Germany who was ranked. The 6-foot-10 forward got off to a strong start for his nation in the opening game, leading them with 22 points and six rebounds in a 97-77 win over Japan on Saturday.

Basketball Reference projects Franz to average 21.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game next season. Each of those totals would be career highs for the German forward.

Franz takes the court again on Tuesday when Germany faces Brazil at 3 p.m. ET in its second game of group play.

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