Dajuan Wagner - The Life/Cats Who Didn't Make It

[Federoy]

I remember Wagner from his freshman year at Memphis. He was quick as lighting, offensively gifted, and was being groomed as the future of combo-guard play; with the court vision and decision making of a point and the scoring abilities of a two. From what I can remember, he was more in the mold of Iverson or Steve Francis then a pure point like Chris Paul. He, along with others at the time, sort of spearheaded the "one and done" college tour back in the late 90s, early 2000s. Guys like Wagner, Tim Thomas, Zach Randolph, Marcus Taylor and many others left after their freshman year, with most having little to modest success in the NBA. Aside from Wagner's health issues, I think he needed time to develop as a player and mature as a young adult, but the lure of riches was too much for him to overcome, and quite frankly, if I were in his shoes I'm not sure I could've turned it down either. The sad thing is that Wagner, like most athletes, is only as valuable as what the league can exploit. Had he gone on to have a steller NBA career he would've gotten the requisite accolades and money that follows, but since he never made it there was no pat on the back from Stern & Co. telling him, "Sorry kid. Here's some money to go back to college. Call us when you're ready." That's not how the business works, and as a result, guys like Wagner get left out in the cold with no chance to redeem their careers.

[Manila_Ice]

I was pretty excited when Cavs drafted him, You got a pretty exciting young players with Lebron, Ricky Davis, D-Miles, Carlos Boozer, Z and Dajuan. He was great, but that colon thing saw the end of his career.

For the other CATS who.....
Jay Williams (I believe belongs to the same draft class as Dajuan)
Mustafa Shakur
Stromile Swift
Rodney White
Gerald Green

[mvblair]

Wagner spends most of his time being a devoted father to his son, Dajuan Jr. who happens to be also in love with basketball at a young age. Wagner is also just a regular family man nowadays, living a quiet life in New Jersey. I happen to see him once on a diner on Newark, NJ with his family.

Cool! I once saw our local sports writer at a restaurant...I wanted to throw Coke on him.

Once New Jersey's brightest basketball star, Dajuan Wagner now prefers obscurity

Great story! Thank you very much for posting it. It says he's trying to make an NBA comeback. That's probably pretty unlikely after sitting out for three years, but maybe he can "get it back."

[CKR13]

Anybody know what he's doing now?

Wagner spends most of his time being a devoted father to his son, Dajuan Jr. who happens to be also in love with basketball at a young age. Wagner is also just a regular family man nowadays, living a quiet life in New Jersey. I happen to see him once on a diner on Newark, NJ with his family.

Here's a nice story from the NJ.com:

Once New Jersey's brightest basketball star, Dajuan Wagner now prefers obscurity

[mvblair]

why CATS who didn't make it??? is that an acronym for 'college athlete something something???

It's just slang for "guys."

Wagner had one or two years in the NBA where he was just great, although he was not a very good shooter. Then he had an operation on his colon and we really haven't heard from him since. Anybody know what he's doing now?

[Delibasic]

why CATS who didn't make it??? is that an acronym for 'college athlete something something???

[CKR13]

who are some of ya'll athletes that were suppose to be the next one but it just didn't pan out that way?

Kwame Brown, drafted 1st Overall in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards. Brown could not just translate his game to the next level. Brown made stops in Washington, Los Angeles (Lakers), Memphis Grizzlies, Detroit Pistons and is currently playing for the Charlotte Bobcats; reuniting with the man who drafted him a decade ago, Michael Jordan.

Another I could think of is Gerald Green, as Green was the star on his high school basketball team: Gulf Shores Academy. Green was being advertised and compared with Tracy McGrady. In 2005, Green was drafted by the Boston Celtics as 18th overall but had limited contributions to the team except for dunk highlights. Green was the 2007 NBA SlamDunk champion on the All-Star Weekend.

For the past two seasons, Green has been playing in Russia. Signing with Lokomotiv in 2009 and is with BC Krasnye Krylya Samara. The last time I remember is that Green was included on the Los Angeles Lakers' Summer League team in 2010.

[Kil]

Back in the day, ESPN had this show called the Life and one of the eps featured my dude Dajuan Wagner. Showed him hanging out in Camden, working out for the Cavs and talking about the infamous 100 point game in high school. I FINALLY came across the videos and posted them on my blog and wanted to share cause it's some great insight to one of my fav high school players of all time. I feel sorry for a lot of these athletes who coming outta high school and are suppose to be the next "one" and for whatever reason they don't make it. Watching these clips it's hard not to feel for Wagner...who are some of ya'll athletes that were suppose to be the next one but it just didn't pan out that way?

http://www.willmakebeatsforfood.com/2011/01/its-gametime-dajuan-wagner.html