By John Rammas/ info@eurohoops.net
Berlin, Germany – Franz Wagner is just 21 years old and he is already a bronze Eurobasket medalist. It’s a great start and as he said, he is happier about the older guys on the German national team, who finally got a medal after a 17-year drought since the 2005 silver of the Dirk Nowitzki generation.
As he said: “It’s a really great feeling obviously for us, winning a medal in our country. I’m from Berlin so it’s extra-special for me. The coolest thing for me is to see all of these guys that have been working towards this for so many years and we managed to reward them, so it’s really cool”.
Wagner is representing the next generation, that’s why he hopes that for his this is just the start: “Hopefully we can build on this. The most important thing is that people are healthy and they keep wanting to play: this definitely helps with that. Hopefully, we can keep a little momentum from this. It was very difficult, I thought. Mentally, to re-focus and get a really intense Polish team. They did a good job fighting all tournament and obviously tonight. That was the toughest part”.
The question is if he can play better also in the NBA in his second season with the Orlando Magic getting boosted by the national team’s success. As he said with a smile, when he was asked about it: “If I will play better after EuroBasket 2022? We’ll see. This is my first time doing it”.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL