NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets center Mo Wagner is mere hours away from making his regular season debut with the Nets after choosing the team over other suitors this past offseason. Brooklyn brought in Wagner as the team was looking to center depth and while he's happy for the opportunity to potentially play more minutes, he's also dealing with a different setup in his home life.
"It's weird because that's where professionalism and private life kind of like meshes together. Obviously, there's the professional part where I'm disappointed and at the same time, extremely happy that I was in the position to play with him for such a long time and share the court and share that everyday life," Wagner said when asked about playing without his brother, Franz,
for the first time in a few years. Wagner had been playing with Franz since the 2021-22 campaign.
"On the other side, obviously, [he's] my best friend, it's my brother and my family together. We lived together, we carpooled to work together. It wasn't really the the NBA experience that everybody else had," Wagner continued. "We really lived a pretty dope life, but it was time to move on for both of us. I think this is a good time. I always tell him he needs to live by himself, too."
Wagner, 29, is coming off a 2025-26 season in which he averaged 6.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while shooting 42.6% from the field and 31.4% from three-point land in 36 appearances. After spending the past 5-plus seasons with the Orlando Magic, Wagner signed with the Nets in free-agency on a two-year, $19 million deal where the second year is a mutual option.
Wagner has spoken multiple times about how happy he is to play for the Nets, especially given the fact that he should see plenty of playing time behind starter Day'Ron Sharpe. While Wagner has a better opportunity for playing time in Brooklyn than he did in the past few seasons in Orlando, he still has to manage being without his younger brother for the first time in awhile.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Mo Wagner excited to begin NBA season with Nets, but also misses Franz
