DJ Wagner commits to Kentucky, giving the Cats another five-star player in the class of 2023
The 2023 recruiting class for the Kentucky men’s basketball team is now set to be among the best in program history.
While that statement was true prior to Monday, the long-awaited news that DJ Wagner will become a Wildcat has solidified it.
Wagner — 6-foot-3 combo guard, who is ranked as the No. 1 player in the class of 2023 by the 247Sports Composite — is now the fifth player to commit to head coach John Calipari and the Wildcats.
Wagner joins point guard Robert Dillingham (No. 9 in the class according to the 247Sports Composite), in-state combo guard Reed Sheppard (No. 29), small forward Justin Edwards (No. 2) and center Aaron Bradshaw (No. 6) in Kentucky’s 2023 recruiting class.
All five players have been announced by Kentucky as future Wildcats.
Bradshaw — who committed to Kentucky prior to Big Blue Madness on Oct. 14 — and Wagner are high school and travel ball teammates from Camden High School in New Jersey.
Both Bradshaw and Wagner are expected to have a signing ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to NJ Advance Media.
On Monday afternoon, Wagner announced his commitment to Kentucky through ESPN’s social media channels and participated in an Instagram Live with Paul Biancardi, ESPN’s National Director of Recruiting.
“Coach John Calipari was always straightforward and honest with me. He said he would be with me until the wheels fall off the car either way, and that meant so much to me,” Wagner said. “I’m coming there to win. Winning comes first with me and I want to help Kentucky win as much as possible.”
Additionally, Calipari said this about Wagner in a UK release announcing the five-player 2023 recruiting class.
“I have known DJ his entire life and I’ve always wanted to coach him. Above all he is a competitor. He attacks the offensive end and is a versatile scorer, but he is equally as tough on defense,” Calipari said. “I love the spirit he’ll bring to practice every day, and I love that he wanted to be at Kentucky. He knows that to get the best of himself, he needs to be surrounded by other talented players who are going to match his competitive energy.”
Wagner’s commitment gives Kentucky a total of four five-star recruits (Bradshaw, Dillingham, Edwards and Wagner) in the 2023 class to go along with one four-star recruit (Sheppard), according to the 247Sports Composite.
Securing Wagner’s commitment also vaults Kentucky to the top of the team recruiting rankings for the class of 2023.
Kentucky hasn’t had a top-rated recruiting class, according to 247Sports, since 2020.
This also currently marks the first time Kentucky has secured the commitments of the top two players in a recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite, which dates back to 2003.
Additionally, Wagner’s commitment positions Kentucky’s 2023 recruiting class as one of the best in college basketball history, according to the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, which factors in five different recruiting services when producing its composite rankings: 247Sports, Rivals, ESPN, On3 and longtime recruiting analyst Van Coleman.
Wagner is the modern definition of a star high school basketball recruit.
He has a significant social media following, and the battle for his commitment between in-state rivals Kentucky and Louisville has been part of the sports discourse in the commonwealth for years now.
Part of this was due to the intimate nature of Wagner’s recruitment.
Calipari coached Wagner’s father, Dajuan Wagner, early in his tenure at Memphis.
Louisville hired former star player Milt Wagner — the grandfather of DJ Wagner — as U of L’s director of player development and alumni relations last spring.
Calipari actually hired Milt Wagner for a similar staff role at Memphis around the same time he secured a commitment from Dajuan Wagner, who was the consensus No. 3 recruit nationally, in the 2001 class.
While much was discussed and written about the family ties binding Wagner to both Kentucky and Louisville during his high-profile recruitment, Wagner never took an official visit to Louisville.
By comparison, Wagner was at UK’s Big Blue Madness in both 2021 and 2022, and made several trips to Kentucky before committing.
Another indicator that Wagner would likely be a Wildcat came in early October, with the announcement that Nike signed five basketball players, including Wagner, to NIL endorsement deals.
UK is a Nike school. Louisville is an Adidas school.
In the end, Wagner committing to Kentucky became something close to a formality, and a question of when — not if — one of the best high school basketball players in the 2023 class would announce he was coming to Lexington.
That time has now come, and Wagner will soon be a Wildcat.
This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 3:01 PM.
