Wagner visited Arkansas and USC through the transfer portal, but he decided to bring Calipari and teammates 2023–24 Wildcats Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivisic back to Fayetteville.According to 247sports, he is the fourth-best combo guard and the 38th-best player overall in the transfer portal.
Wagner started 28 of the 29 games for the Wildcats this season, shooting 40.5% from the field and 29.2% from outside the arc. Wagner averaged 9.9 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 25.8 minutes, earning him a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team by the league’s coaches at Kentucky this past season.
He received three SEC Freshman of the Week awards. Wagner scored in double figures in 13 games while missing five due to a high ankle sprain. His career best of 28 points against Marshall, 18 at Texas A&M, 18 points and a career-high 10 assists against Georgia, and 19 points against Arkansas were among his notable performances.
Wagner, a 2023 recruit out of Camden High School in New Jersey, was ranked No. 6 overall by the industry average 247Sports Composite and was previously considered a top 10 choice before the 2023–24 season began.
He was chosen as an All-American by McDonald’s. In 2002, Calipari’s first one-and-done at Memphis was his father, Dajuan Wagner.
Wagner is the sixth player to leave Kentucky via the transfer portal; the other players are guard/forward Jordan Burks, who has committed to Georgetown, forward Aaron Bradshaw, who has committed to Ohio State, and guard Joey Hart, who has committed to Ball State. Thiero and Ivisic will play at Arkansas.Only Ugonna Onyenso, the center, is still undecided.
Mark Pope and the Wildcats won’t have any scholarship players from Kentucky’s 2023–24 team under Calipari for the upcoming campaign because Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards, and Reed Sheppard all declared to stay in the NBA Draft.
