Future Kentucky guard DJ Wagner was named New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year last week.
Wagner was already the state’s returning Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year. He averaged 19.6 points, 4.3
rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.1 steals through 31 games this season.
In addition to the award, Wagner is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2023 by ESPN.
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New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year
Congrats to DJ Wagner! pic.twitter.com/EGoqyHQvPG
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) March 24, 2023
Here is a press release from Gatorade.com:
CHICAGO (March 16, 2022) — In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today
announced D.J. Wagner of Camden High School is the 2021-22 Gatorade New Jersey Boys Basketball Player of
the Year. Wagner is the second Gatorade New Jersey Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from
Camden High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic
achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Wagner as New Jersey’s
best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball
Player of the Year award to be announced in March, Wagner joins an elite alumni association of state awardwinners in 12 sports, including Jayson Tatum (2015-16, Chaminade College Preparatory School, Mo.), KarlAnthony Towns (2012-13 & 2013-14, St. Joseph High School, N.J.), Jabari Parker (2011-12, Simeon Career
Academy, Ill.) and Dwight Howard (2003-04, Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, Ga.).
The state’s returning Gatorade Player of the Year, the 6-foot-3, 165-pound junior guard had led the Panthers to a
29-2 record, a No. 5 national ranking by MaxPreps and a berth in the Group 2 state finals at the time of his
selection. The state’s returning Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year, Wagner averaged 19.6 points, 4.3
rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.1 steals through 31 games. The NJ.com Player of the Year, he was MaxPreps National
Sophomore of the Year and is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2023 by ESPN.
Wagner has volunteered locally on behalf of toy and clothing donation drives. “Wagner is exciting in the open
court and loves to attack and put pressure on the defense in transition,” said Paul Biancardi of ESPN Basketball. “He
penetrates to the basket at will with a clever handle, and he combines a sharp pull-up jumper with a much
improved three-point shot.”
Wagner has maintained a 3.74 GPA in the classroom. He will begin his senior year of high school this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of
the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls
basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player
of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection
Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and
determine the state winners in each sport.
Two-time winner Wagner joins recent Gatorade New Jersey Boys Basketball Players of the Year Cliff Omoruyi (2019-
20, Roselle Catholic High School), Jabri Abdur-Rahim (2018-19, Blair Academy), and Jahvon Quinerly (2017-18,
Hudson Catholic Regional High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
Gatorade has a long-standing history of serving athlete communities and understands how sports instill valuable
lifelong skills on and off the court. Through Gatorade’s “Play it Forward” platform, Wagner has the opportunity to
award a $1,000 grant to a local or national organization of their choosing that helps young athletes realize the
benefits of playing sports. Wagner is also eligible to submit a short video explaining why the organization they
chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date,
Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300
organizations.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of
professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming
coaches, business owners and educators.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate studentathletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at
facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.
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