‘Every kid is on their own path.’ Why D.J. Wagner is still in college basketball
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wagner remains in college for a third season while NBA prospects fade.
- Calipari shifted Wagner to reserve role to boost ball handling and confidence.
- Wagner posts modest stats; team succeeds while his draft stock stays low.
Back in the fall, D.J. Wagner had just settled into his seat at SEC basketball Media Day when he was hit with a question about the upcoming season that was loaded with a reminder of the past.
What did Wagner think “year two” with John Calipari was going to be like, the 20-year-old was asked. There was a brief pause.
“Year three, actually,” Wagner responded.
And then another brief pause. Just enough time to let that sink in.
A few years ago — when Calipari was the Hall of Fame head coach at Kentucky and Wagner was the No. 1 recruit in everybody’s rankings — the mere thought of this player entering his third season of college basketball would have been ludicrous.
UK fans had been coveting Wagner’s commitment since he was in middle school. Recruiting analysts had followed his every move. He spent most of his high school career in Camden, New Jersey, as the clear-cut No. 1 player in his class, one of the most-hyped prospects in years and a surefire one-and-done NBA draft pick down the road.
That road, it turned out, would be a winding one, and halfway through this 2025-26 college basketball season, Wagner is still trying to find his way.
The 6-foot-4 guard wasn’t supposed to be sitting in a ballroom in Birmingham on that October afternoon. He was supposed to be in some NBA city, preparing for one of his final preseason games before year two in the league.
That’s not how it worked out.
“Every kid is on their own path,” Calipari said that same October day. “... He was on a different path. His family is fine with it, and his dad is fine with it. Some kids get impatient. I’ve had kids leave too early. I’ve tried to talk to them, but, ‘I’m ready.’ OK. And the NBA is no boys allowed. That’s a man’s league, and you better have everything in order, both mentally, physically and skill wise. If you don’t, you’re getting a short period of time, and you’re gone.”
Wagner hasn’t experienced that yet. He’s still here, toiling away in college basketball, seemingly no closer to his ultimate dream than he was when he arrived on the scene.
Back when Wagner was the toast of his high school class, no one thought it would turn out like this.
The son of Dajuan Wagner — Calipari’s first major recruit at Memphis, the No. 6 pick in the 2002 draft and someone who stayed close to his college head coach long after he left for the pros — young D.J. appeared destined to play for Calipari from the moment he picked up a basketball.
Even Louisville hiring his grandfather, Milt Wagner — the same move Calipari made at Memphis before landing Dajuan — couldn’t keep D.J. from Kentucky, and his commitment was celebrated across the commonwealth when he finally popped for the Wildcats in the fall of 2022.
Wagner slipped some in the rankings as his high school career came to an end, but he still ended up as the No. 6 recruit in his class, arriving in Lexington as a presumed first-round pick in the 2024 NBA draft.
While fellow freshmen Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham outplayed expectations and ended up as one-and-done lottery picks, Wagner largely struggled at Kentucky. He was a constant target of ire from fans, and the coach’s reluctance to pull him from the starting lineup — while Dillingham and Sheppard came off the bench — led to even more consternation.
He underwhelmed at UK, by any measure. His draft stock plummeted. Calipari left Lexington under pressure, ending up at Arkansas in a shocking move. Wagner entered the transfer portal, explored his options and followed his coach to Fayetteville.
Year two offered more of the same. Wagner’s numbers improved in nearly every statistical category, but he didn’t do nearly enough to impress NBA scouts, and by the end of his sophomore season, it was clear that he wasn’t yet ready for a spot in the league.
So there he sat in October, talking about year three with Calipari, and doing it with a smile on his face.
“I think it’s gonna be good,” Wagner said. “It’s definitely a blessing just to be able to play under a great coach — under a legendary coach — like Coach is. … I think we got a great team, and we’ve been preparing a lot, so it’s gonna be very fun.”
D.J. Wagner at Arkansas
Two and a half seasons into his college career, Wagner still hasn’t found his NBA game. But much of his time to this point has been spent trying to live up to expectations others set for him.
“I think he’s more comfortable with himself,” Calipari told the Herald-Leader going into the season. “Like, a lot of these kids get ‘ranked.’ And then they’re trying to live up to ‘rankings.’ And what does a ranking mean? You gotta go in and compete and take what you want. But it could be a burden. And I think, with him, like he needed to shed that and just be the player he is. And let’s see your best version.
“And I believe his best version is being more aggressive. Less dribbles, more attack. You know, the things that he’s doing, the way he leads — he’s just mature.”
Wagner had just turned 18 years old when he arrived in Lexington ahead of his freshman season, the weight of the UK basketball world on his shoulders. He’s still young, it’s worth pointing out — Wagner won’t turn 21 until May — and it’s not yet clear where his basketball career will lead.
Going into Saturday’s game against Kentucky, the junior guard is averaging 7.5 points and 2.5 assists in 23.8 minutes per game, career lows in all three categories. He’s shooting the ball better from 3-point range than he ever has in college — 34.8% — but he’s shooting the ball less overall, with just 6.2 field-goal attempts per game, another career low.
As a freshman at Kentucky, Wagner clearly wasn’t ready to be the star everyone had built him up to be. As a sophomore at Arkansas, he was largely overshadowed by others in the backcourt once again, namely standout freshman Boogie Fland, who suffered an injury around this time last year that basically ended his season.
That made room for Wagner, who responded with arguably his best stretch as a college player.
“Well, when he became the point guard, we became better as a team. We just did. And everybody knew it,” Calipari said of that time.
After Fland went down, Wagner averaged 12.2 points and 4.6 assists over Arkansas’ final 16 games of the season, helping the Hogs advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, a surprise run that followed a disastrous start to SEC play.
It looked like it might be the beginning of a new stage in Wagner’s career. But year three has been a backslide — statistically at least — as the junior has played second fiddle to freshman phenom Darius Acuff Jr., one of the most dynamic guards in the country, a potential NBA lottery pick and a player who can change the course of a game with the ball in his hands.
While Calipari kept Wagner in his starting lineup, the ex-Cat often wasn’t on the court for the end of games.
In Arkansas’ 85-81 win over LSU last Saturday, Wagner checked out with four fouls and 7:32 left and never returned. He didn’t play the final 4:16 of an 86-75 win over Tennessee earlier this month. He sat for the final 10 minutes of a nine-point win over Louisville, the final 5:14 of a nine-point loss to Duke and the final 5:37 in an 84-83 nailbiter of a victory over Winthrop.
Following Wagner’s poor start to SEC play — 25 total points while shooting 30.8% from the field over the first five league games — Calipari finally made a change. He put Wagner on the bench.
In his first game as an Arkansas reserve, the Hogs beat then-No. 15 Vanderbilt 93-68.
“Bringing D.J. off the bench was for one reason,” Calipari said that night. “I needed to get him going. So I wanted him to be the point guard. So when he went in, he handled the ball. So he had the ball more in his hand, where he could then — just go play. And he did great.”
D.J. Wagner’s basketball future
Wagner tallied 11 points, three assists and zero turnovers in that blowout win over Vandy, going 5 for 8 from the field. Before that night — his 55th game as a Razorback — he had never come off the bench.
The only other time Calipari hadn’t started him came on Feb. 10, 2024, when Wagner was returning from three missed games due to an ankle injury. Kentucky lost to Gonzaga that day in Rupp Arena, and Wagner was back in the Wildcats’ starting lineup the next time out.
UK won seven of its final eight games in the regular season from there. But the Cats went one-and-done in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments. Wagner was scoreless and missed all five shots he took in Kentucky’s stunning, season-ending loss to Oakland.
So much has changed since that performance, but Wagner is still trying to figure things out. The opportunity to be a one-and-done draft pick is long gone. There’s still plenty of basketball to be played, however.
Arkansas entered this week as the top-ranked team in the SEC. The Razorbacks’ 25-point win over Vanderbilt last week is one of the most impressive showings so far in the league, and — even though he came off the bench — Wagner made his mark on that game.
“We all love playing with each other, and I think it showed today,” he said that night. “We just were having fun out there. No matter who starts, who don’t start — we’re all confident in each other, and we all support each other.”
The former No. 1 recruit has been nothing but complimentary of Acuff, who has emerged as the face of this Arkansas team. Meleek Thomas and Trevon Brazile have received their share of publicity when things go well for the Hogs, and three other teammates — Malique Ewin, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond III — are all averaging more points than Wagner, who goes into Saturday’s game listed seventh on the Arkansas scoring list.
He was scoreless in the Razorbacks’ 83-79 win over Oklahoma on Tuesday night, playing just 14 minutes and once again finding himself on the bench in crunch time of a close game.
When it’s time for Wagner and Calipari to meet after this season is finished, the coach will almost certainly tell his player that he needs one more year of college. Wagner is not projected as a 2026 NBA draft pick. The most recent updates from ESPN and The Athletic don’t even list him among the top 100 prospects for this class. And Calipari knows what a pro looks like.
“He’s always honest with you. He never sugarcoats nothing,” Wagner said. “… I mean, that’s what it’s about. It’s a blessing to be able to play under John Calipari for three years. I mean, that’s a blessing to me. So that’s it, really. He’s a legendary coach. He’s a great coach. And he’s been with us every step of the way. He’s loyal, and he’s always got our back.”
Wagner might never play a game in the NBA — a statement that would’ve sounded ridiculous three or four years ago — but, when he’s at his best, the flashes are still there. His path might lead elsewhere, but, for the time being, hope remains.
And so long as he has him, Calipari won’t be giving up on that dream.
“He is as good a kid as I’ve ever coached, works as hard as anybody I’ve ever coached, and the breakthrough is all within himself,” Calipari said. “And it’s there. Now, it’s time to go show it all. I’m just happy he’s still with me and I’m coaching him. Love being around him every day.”
