$229 million German brothers chime in after NBA announces European dates for 2025-26 season

The Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies made the headlines earlier in the offseason after a surprising trade that sent Desmond Bane to the Eastern Conference. Both teams will now meet on European soil in the regular season.

The Magic and Grizzlies will square off in Berlin on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, and in London on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, per Dan Savage’s report. Needless to say, this is major news for Magic’s $229 million German brothers Franz and Moe Wagner. When asked about it, they gushed about this opportunity.

“To have the Orlando Magic and the NBA play a regular-season game in our hometown of Berlin means everything to us,” the Wagner brothers said.

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"Growing up here, we dreamed of moments like this. It’s a huge honor to represent Berlin and Germany and show how much the city and country love basketball. We hope we can inspire kids the way we were inspired watching games from afar," the Wagner brothers said.

This season will also mark Moe's return, who missed most of last season with an ACL injury. In 30 appearances, he averaged 12.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 56.2%.

On the other hand, Franz also missed 22 games last season because of injuries. He averaged career bests in points (24.2), rebounds (5.7), assists (4.7), steals (1.3) and 3-pointers (1.7) per game on 33.7 minutes a night.

Franz signed a five-year contract extension worth $224,238,150, which keeps him tied to the Magic through his age 28 season in 2029-30, while Moe got a one-year deal worth $5 million. Combined they are set to earn $229 million over the course of their contracts.

New-look Magic is a big threat in the East

The Magic made a big splash in the offseason by acquiring one of the best 3-point shooters in the game. Desmond Bane knows there will be no more room for excuses.

"It's time to win," Bane told WESH 2. "It's pretty much as simple as that. If we do what we're supposed to do ... we have a lot of young talent here already in the building, and we have a lot of talent at the top of the roster, so I think it's a perfect time for the organization to do what they did."

The Magic's best players missed plenty of time with injury last season, but adding a third 20+ PPG scorer to the mix should help their case. Also, Bane can finally help them stretch the floor on offense, which has been their major issue over the past couple of years.

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About the author

Ernesto Cova

Ernesto Cova is a journalist at Sportskeeda with a PhD in Sports Psychology. His education helped him develop a clearer understanding of the sports world as a whole, including basketball. Ernesto has over eight years of experience in the field, working for Fadeaway World, The Inquisitr, NBA Blast, The Cold Wire and Bolavip, among others.

His favorite team is the Chicago Bulls because of the Michael Jordan era. Jordan is Ernesto's all-time favorite, as he changed the game forever. Ernesto's second favorite was Kobe Bryant because he embodied that same competitive fire and Ernesto watched him play throughout his entire career. Nowadays, Ernesto really likes Stephen Curry, who he believes to be the most influential player of the past 15 years or so.

Ernesto's favorite basketball moment was when Venezuela -- his country -- took down Canada to take home the 2015 FIBA Americas Cup.

When not watching or writing about basketball, Ernesto likes to read and is interested in photography.

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