Los Angeles Lakers Regular Season Grades: Forwards and Centers

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LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 9: Moritz Wagner #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers handles the ball against the Boston Celtics on March 9, 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Chris Elise/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Moritz Wagner: C-

Defensive Real Plus-Minus: 0.96 (5th)

Field-Goal Percentage Differential: -3.9 (2nd)

Defensive Rating: 104.3 (4th)

Offensive Rating: 95.2 (12th)

On/Off Offensive Differential: -13.1 (12th)

Traditional Stats: 5 PPG, 2 RPG, 1 APG, .415 FG%

Coming out of college, Moritz Wagner was dubbed as a great offensive player who can get out in transition and hit shots from downtown. Many draft experts also believed he’d struggle on defense because he was too slow and his wingspan was short for a modern NBA center. Flip everything people said about Wagner when he was drafted by Lakers and you have his rookie season.

Wagner was a train wreck on offense. His on/off offensive differential of -13.1 was remarkably bad and was by far the worst out of any Laker during the 2018-2019 season. His offensive rating was also the worst on the Lakers.

To put in perspective how bad Wagner’s offensive numbers were, let’s compare him to the player who was 2nd worst on the Lakers:

Offensive Rating:

Moritz Wagner: 95.2
Lance Stephenson: 102.9

On/Off Offensive differential:

Moritz Wagner: -13.1
Lance Stephenson: -4.1

There’s a huge gap between Wagner, who was the worst offensive player on the Lakers, and Stephenson, who was 2nd worst.

Why was he so bad on offense?

He took almost all of his shots from either 0-3 feet or from behind the arc. He shot 53% close to the rim, which is appalling for an NBA center and it was last on the Lakers. He shot 28% from deep, which is also “unpleasant” and likewise last on the Lakers during the 2018-2019 season.

His defense, however, was inspired. He played just as hard as Josh Hart and he really got up into the opponent he was guarding, sometimes visibly upsetting his assignment with his passion. Thus he was 2nd on the Lakers in field goal percentage differential, holding his man to almost four percentage points under his normal shooting average.

Moritz Wagner also had one of the best defensive ratings on the Lakers and he was 5th in defensive real plus-minus for the season. Wagner shouldn’t have finished the season with better defensive statistics than JaVale, because he’s not as fast, he’s not as springy, and he’s not as tall as McGee. Moritz is a perfect example of what a player can do when he just gives 100% on every play.

Moritz Wagner gets a C- because he was truly awful on offense, but he was much better than advertised on D.

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