Camden’s DJ Wagner follows coach John Calipari to Arkansas

DJ Wagner has found a new home with a familiar coach.

After playing one season at the University of Kentucky, the 2023 Camden High School graduate followed John Calipari to Arkansas, according to multiple sources, including the Arkansas Democratic Gazette.

Wagner is the sixth player or prospect to follow Calipari to Arkansas, including Camden senior Billy Richmond, who decommitted from Kentucky in April.

The 6-foot-2 Wagner, a 2,000-point scorer and three-time Gatorade New Jersey Player of the Year, played in 29 games (28 starts) for Kentucky as a true freshman last season. He averaged 9.9 points, 3.3 assists and 1.9 rebounds for the Wildcats, who went 23-10 and were eliminated by Oakland in the first round of the NCAA tournament in March.

Wagner was named SEC Freshman of the Week three times and was selected to the All-SEC Freshman team during the season.

After the season, Calipari stepped down as head coach of the Wildcats after 15 seasons with a 410–122 record. He was signed as Arkansas’ No. 14^th men’s basketball coach on April 10. Calipari is the winningest active men’s basketball coach with a record of 855-262.

Calipari coached Wagner’s father, Dajuan Wagner, in Memphis.

DJ Wagner also has a connection to Arkansas assistant coach Kenny Payne, who played alongside his grandfather, Milt Wagner, during Louisville’s run to the national title in 1986.

Wagner entered the transfer portal in April. According to ESPN.comthe guard made just two visits to USC and Arkansas.

Wagner finished with 2,040 career points at Camden, the third member of his family to accomplish the feat with the Panthers, joining Dajuan (state-record 3,462 points) and Milt (2,003). He was also a three-time Courier-Post Player of the Year.

Camden graduate Aaron Bradshaw played alongside DJ Wagner at Kentucky for one season before transferring to Ohio State last month.

Tom McGurk is a regional sports reporter for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering sports in South Jersey for more than 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email at tmcgurk@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared in the Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Camden’s DJ Wagner transfers to Arkansas, follows coach to Fayetteville