Dajuan Wagner Jr.

Dajuan Marquett "D. J." Wagner Jr. (born May 4, 2005) is an American basketball player who attends Camden High School in Camden, New Jersey.[1][2] He is the son of a former professional basketball player Dajuan Wagner and grandson of professional player "Ice Man" Milt Wagner. He is a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top players in the 2023 recruiting class. He has verbally committed to play at the University of Kentucky.

D. J. Wagner
No. 21 – Camden Panthers
PositionPoint guard / Shooting guard
Personal information
Born (2005-05-04) May 4, 2005
Camden, New Jersey, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High schoolCamden
(Camden, New Jersey)
Career highlights and awards

High school career

During the summer heading into his freshman season at Camden, Wagner was one of just three Class of 2023 prospects invited to the USA Basketball July mini camp in Colorado Springs.[3] He was invited back to a second USA Basketball event several months later, before the start of the high school basketball season in New Jersey.[4]

In his first game, December 20, 2019, in front of a capacity crowd that waited more than an hour to try to get admission into the game,[5] Wagner scored 15 points despite missing 6 of his first 7 field goal attempts.[6]

Coached by former NBA player Rick Brunson,[7] Wagner helped lead Camden to 25 consecutive victories before the team's season was ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Camden earned New Jersey Boys Basketball Team of the Year honors by NJ.com.[8]

As a freshman, Wagner averaged 18.5 points en route to earning MaxPreps Freshman All-American honors.[9] On January 24, 2023 Wagner became the first 3rd generation McDonald's All-American, joining both his father Dajuan and grandfather Milt.

Recruiting

Wagner is considered a five-star recruit by 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals .[10]

In the middle of his junior season, Wagner saw his ranking of number one player in the class of 2023 drop to third by Rivals after holding the reign of consensus number one pick in the class of 2023 for two years since 2020.[11] On November 14, 2022, Wagner committed to the University of Kentucky, deciding over Louisville.[12]

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
D. J. Wagner
PG		 Camden, NJ Camden (NJ) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Nov 14, 2022 
Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals:5/5 stars   247Sports:5/5 stars    ESPN:5/5 stars   ESPN grade: 94
Overall recruiting rankings:   Rivals: 3  247Sports: 4  ESPN: 4
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

  • "Kentucky 2023 Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  • "2023 Kentucky Basketball Commits". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  • "2023 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.

Personal life

Wagner is the son of Dajuan Wagner and Syreeta Brittingham. Dajuan Wagner was the 6th pick in the 2002 NBA draft. His grandfather, Milt Wagner, was a second-round pick in the 1986 NBA Draft. He is seeking to become the first-ever third-generation NBA player.[13]

References
  1. Boone, Kyle (30 September 2020). "Class of 2023 recruiting rankings headlined by DaJuan Wagner Jr., Mikey Williams and Bronny James". CBSSports.com.
  2. Werner, Barry (30 September 2020). "Son of NBA player ranked No. 1 ... and it isn't Bronny". USA Today.
  3. Daniels, Evan (19 July 2019). "Son of former Memphis star Dajuan Wagner excels at USA". 247Sports.
  4. Carothers, Tom (12 October 2019). "Basketball is a Passion Three Generations in the Making for Dajuan Wagner Jr". USA Basketball.
  5. Friedman, Josh (20 December 2019). "Boys basketball: D.J. Wagner impresses in debut as Camden rolls to season-opening win". Courier-Post.
  6. Anastasia, Phil (20 December 2019). "Camden opens basketball season with victory over Gratz". Philadelphia Inquirer.
  7. Anastasia, Phil (26 August 2019). "New Camden basketball coach Rick Brunson sees himself in players: 'I was that kid'". Philadelphia Inquirer.
  8. Minnick, Kevin (25 March 2020). "Camden is NJ.com's Boys Basketball Team of the Year, 2019-2020". NJ.com.
  9. Divens, Jordan (3 April 2020). "MaxPreps 2019-20 Boys Basketball Freshman All-American Team". MaxPreps.
  10. "D. J. Wagner". ESPN. June 8, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  11. Roberts, Ben (12 February 2022). "Reed Sheppard in the new national rankings, and more Kentucky basketball recruiting links". Lexington Herald-Leader. p. 1.
  12. "No. 1-ranked recruit Wagner chooses Kentucky". ESPN.com. 2022-11-14. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
  13. Thamel, Pete (30 July 2019). "Can this 14-year-old phenom become the first third-generation NBA player?". Yahoo Sports.
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