LEXINGTON — Kentucky basketball guard D.J. Wagner is the latest player to hit the transfer portal.
Wagner reportedly entered the portal Monday, two days after fellow freshman Zvonimir Ivišić reportedly put his name in the portal.
A 6-foot-4, 192-pound freshman from Camden, New Jersey, Wagner was a five-star signee in UK’s top-ranked 2023 recruiting class. He was expected to be a top-notch scorer for the Wildcats after he scored more than 2,000 points during his high school career.
Wagner went on to average 9.9 points to go along with 3.3 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 25.8 minutes per game. He played in 29 of Kentucky’s 33 outings in 2023-24, making 28 starts. His best game offensively came in November, when he scored a career-high 28 points in a 118-82 win over Marshall.
UK won a heated battle on the recruiting trail for Wagner, who also considered Louisville, where his grandfather, Milt Wagner, worked on former coach Kenny Payne‘s staff as the director of player development and alumni relations. But D.J. Wagner ultimately cast his lot with Kentucky and John Calipari, whom Wagner’s father, Dajuan Wagner, played for at Memphis during the 2001-02 season.
D.J. Wagner had his share of struggles last season, particularly shooting from deep. He went more than a month without making a 3-pointer, at one point missing 15 straight in a seven-game stretch. But he began to turn things around in the final month of the season. In Kentucky’s last six games of the 2023-24 campaign, Wagner converted at a 42.5% (17 for 40) clip beyond the arc.
This story will be updated.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: DJ Wagner, Kentucky basketball guard, reportedly in transfer portal
