Our Fantasy Face-Off series will feature two SportsEthos staffers making their arguments in a head-to-head battle of comparable fantasy players. Franz Wagner and Jaylen Brown are both settling in as fourth-round picks in standard leagues as two-way wings who give fantasy managers production across the box, with some drawbacks. Both are still young and both are key players on good (or great) teams, though ultimately both are the 1A at best on their current squads. Both were also undone by one percentage totally falling apart. Dynasty maestro Pedro Oliveira will fittingly take up the case for the younger Wagner, while fantasy expert Tim Woodson heeds the call to arms for Brown.

Last Season

Franz Wagner

SF, Orlando Magic

Jaylen Brown

SG, Boston Celtics

Despite all the love for Paolo Banchero, it was Wagner who finished as Orlando’s best fantasy player last year. He did a little of everything and did most of it competently, at minimum. Wagner posted new career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals and free throw percentage as a do-it-all hub for the Magic, who badly needed his presence on the wing. Despite all that, Wagner left some money on the table and wasn’t able to cook up a massive climb up the rankings, though three rounds is nothing to sneeze at. Unfortunately, Wagner’s 3-point shot abandoned him in a season where so much else went right. He shot just .281 from deep after starting his career with .354 and .361 marks; had Wagner shot even .340 from beyond the arc, he would’ve finished with 1.4 3-pointers per game and cracked the 20-point per game threshold as well. It’s not much, but it would’ve changed the vibe of a season that resulted in No. 64/70 value in 8/9-cat.

Brown continued to be drafted as a superstar in the making and while he flashed that at times on the court, he wasn’t asked to do so frequently enough for fantasy managers to get what they bargained for. On a loaded Celtics team that comfortably blew out many of its opponents, Brown was just one member of a balanced committee attack. It led to decreases in minutes, points, rebounds and 3-pointers, and Brown was unable to boost his field goal percentage or assists by enough to counteract the dips. Most concerning is that Brown posted the fourth-worst FT% of his career, snapping a streak of three straight average-ish seasons in the process. Brown wasn’t a bad player but he wasn’t the guy that you drafted him to be, finishing No. 59/77 in 8/9-cat scoring.

The Case for Franz Wagner

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