Southeast roundup: Wagner’s status, Spoelstra-Adebayo exchange, Jovic’s adjustment, Risacher heads to G League
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Orlando forward Franz Wagner will sit out for the third consecutive game when the Magic visit Cleveland on Monday. The club now lists the injury as “left high ankle sprain injury management,” replacing the earlier designation of left ankle soreness.
Wagner missed more than five weeks—16 games in total—with the high ankle sprain before returning for Orlando’s two overseas matchups in Berlin and London. Head coach Jamahl Mosley said the 22-year-old completed light shooting drills before Saturday’s contest against the Cavaliers but avoided contact work. Asked whether the forward came back too quickly, Mosley replied, “When he said he could go, he went… You can’t look back.”
Heat clear the air before rout of Jazz
In Miami, head coach Erik Spoelstra and center Bam Adebayo exchanged pointed words during a Saturday morning team meeting, one day after a defensive letdown in Portland. “Spo kind of went off on us, especially on Bam, which I think set the tone,” forward Nikola Jovic said. Adebayo called the discussion a normal part of a professional locker room: “We like when coach confronts us… we’re all grown men.” The Heat responded later that night with a lopsided victory over Utah.
Jovic working through new offense
Jovic, who signed a four-year, $62.4 million rookie-scale extension in October, acknowledged he is still adapting to Miami’s motion-oriented attack. “I’m not a guy you build a system around right now,” he noted, adding that post-ups likely won’t feature prominently in his role.
Risacher begins G League stint
The Hawks assigned rookie forward Zaccharie Risacher to the College Park Skyhawks for practice on Sunday. The No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft has missed eight straight games with a left knee bone contusion and will be reevaluated within the next couple of days.
Source: Hoops Rumors
