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. He is a consensus five-star recruit and the number one player in the 2023 class.

D. J. Wagner
No. 21 – Camden Panthers
PositionPoint guard
Personal information
Born (2005-05-04) May 4, 2005
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight165 lb (75 kg)
Career information
High schoolCamden
(Camden, New Jersey)

Early life

As a youth football player, Wagner was described as "a man among boys".[3]

Wagner attended Kingsway Middle School, where an opposing coach said that, at 13 years old, Wagner could have averaged 15 points as a high school varsity player.[4]

High school career

Before high school, Wagner gave up playing football in favor of focusing on basketball, after watching video highlights of his father and grandfather.[5] His high school debut was highly anticipated, as his former middle school football coach said, “It’s like there’s this energy out there, everybody waiting for him to get to high school.”

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.[6] 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.[7]

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,[8] Wagner scored 15 points despite missing 6 of his first 7 field goal attempts.[9]

Coached by former NBA player Rick Brunson,[10] 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.[11]

As a freshman, Wagner averaged 18.5 points en route to earning MaxPreps Freshman All-American honors.[12]

Recruiting

Wagner is considered a five-star recruit and the number one player in the 2023 class by ESPN, Rivals, and 247Sports.[13]

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) 165 lb (75 kg) — 
Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 96
Overall recruiting rankings:   Rivals: 1  247Sports: 1  ESPN: 1
  • 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:

  • "2023 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021.

    Personal life

    Wagner is the son of Dajuan Wagner and Syreeta Brittingham. His grandfather, Milt Wagner, was a second-round pick in the 1986 NBA Draft.

    Wagner is seeking to become the first-ever third-generation NBA player.[14]

    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. "DJ Wagner 2014 Highlights". 2014.
    4. Anastasia, Phil (19 April 2019). "Dajuan Wagner's son has the game to become the region's next high school basketball superstar". Philadelphia Inquirer.
    5. Anastasia, Phil (19 April 2019). "Dajuan Wagner's son has the game to become the region's next high school basketball superstar". Philadelphia Inquirer.
    6. Daniels, Evan (19 July 2019). "Son of former Memphis star Dajuan Wagner excels at USA". 247Sports.
    7. Carothers, Tom (12 October 2019). "Basketball is a Passion Three Generations in the Making for Dajuan Wagner Jr". USA Basketball.
    8. Friedman, Josh (20 December 2019). "Boys basketball: D.J. Wagner impresses in debut as Camden rolls to season-opening win". Courier-Post.
    9. Anastasia, Phil (20 December 2019). "Camden opens basketball season with victory over Gratz". Philadelphia Inquirer.
    10. Anastasia, Phil (26 August 2019). "New Camden basketball coach Rick Brunson sees himself in players: 'I was that kid'". Philadelphia Inquirer.
    11. Minnick, Kevin (25 March 2020). "Camden is NJ.com's Boys Basketball Team of the Year, 2019-2020". NJ.com.
    12. Divens, Jordan (3 April 2020). "MaxPreps 2019-20 Boys Basketball Freshman All-American Team". MaxPreps.
    13. "D. J. Wagner". ESPN. June 8, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
    14. Thamel, Pete (30 July 2019). "Can this 14-year-old phenom become the first third-generation NBA player?". Yahoo Sports.


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