Dajuan Marquett "D. J." Wagner Jr. (born May 4, 2005) is an American college basketball player for the Kentucky Wildcats of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). He is the son of a former professional basketball player

Dajuan Wagner Dajuan Marquett Wagner Sr. (born February 4, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player. He is the son of former University of Louisville and National Basketball Association (NBA) player Milt Wagner and left the NBA early into hi ...

and grandson of professional player 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.

High school career

During the summer heading into his freshman season at Camden High School, Wagner was one of just three Class of 2023 prospects invited to the

USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States Olympi ...

July mini camp in Colorado Springs. 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. 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, Wagner scored 15 points despite missing 6 of his first 7 field goal attempts. Coached by former NBA player Rick Brunson, Wagner helped lead Camden to 25 consecutive victories before the team's season was ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Camden earned New Jersey Boys Basketball Team of the Year honors by NJ.com. As a freshman, Wagner averaged 18.5 points en route to earning MaxPreps Freshman All-American honors. On January 24, 2023 Wagner became the first third-generation McDonald's All-American, joining both his father Dajuan and grandfather Milt.

Recruiting

Wagner is considered a five-star recruit by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

, ESPN and Rivals. 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. On November 14, 2022, Wagner committed to the University of Kentucky, deciding over Louisville.

Personal life

Wagner is the son of

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.

References

External links

USA Basketball bio
2005 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople American men's basketball players African-American basketball players Basketball players from Camden, New Jersey Camden High School (New Jersey) alumni Point guards {{2000s-US-basketball-bio-stub