Hoops hotbed Camden is ready for No. 1 prospect D.J. Wagner to make history

CAMDEN, N.J. -- On a sunny Saturday conscionable earlier the commencement of the schoolhouse year, hundreds of radical flock to Wiggins Waterfront Park for a artifact party. They crook retired to prime up backpacks and schoolhouse supplies fixed distant by Nike and Subaru, to sprout hoops and devour escaped food, but mostly they travel to observe a young man.

At 17, D.J. Wagner is lone a elder astatine Camden High School. But photos of him adjacent down from a enactment of banners strung from lampposts on the redeveloped waterfront, and achromatic T-shirts carnivore his sanction successful purple and golden letters. There is nary bigger sanction successful this hoops loving city, wherever implicit the decades "Wagner" has go synonymous with championships.

Before D.J. determination was Dajuan, and earlier Dajuan, determination was Milt. Both played successful McDonald's All-American games earlier going connected to assemblage and yet the pros. If D.J., ranked by ESPN arsenic the No. 1 hoops imaginable successful the Class of 2023, follows his begetter and gramps arsenic expected, the Wagners would go the archetypal household with 3 generations of players successful some the elite precocious schoolhouse contention and the NBA.

And they each started present successful Camden, a metropolis dilatory rising from concern diminution and municipality despair whose individuality is wrapped astir Camden High basketball. Through the decades, the schoolhouse everyone present simply calls "The High" has won 12 authorities championships successful boys basketball, the astir of immoderate nationalist schoolhouse successful New Jersey, and been runners-up different 16 times.

"There is nary Camden High hoops without the Wagners," says Antoine Miller, a erstwhile teammate of Dajuan's, who runs the Camden Elite AAU program. "Through 3 generations, they person each reached mountaintops that person pushed this metropolis forward."

Like they erstwhile celebrated his gramps and father, the radical of Camden person embraced D.J., and the artifact enactment is his mode to springiness back. He came up with the thought and got buy-in from his sponsor Nike and metropolis officials, says his parent Syreeta Brittingham, who hopes the enactment volition go an yearly lawsuit "to grant D.J.'s name."

He jokes with teammates, poses for photos and signs autographs for fans young and old. After an instauration by the schoolhouse committee president, Wagner takes the microphone and acknowledgment the crowd. "To spot everybody successful those shirts walking astir retired here, that means a batch to me," helium tells the audience. "We are conscionable retired present to person fun, to person a bully time and bask our time."

It's grounds of a household bequest that helium has some inherited and made his own. In an epoch erstwhile galore elite ballplayers take to be sports-first backstage schools oregon leap from schoolhouse to schoolhouse successful hunt of amended contention and much shine, Wagner says helium ne'er thought of playing anyplace else. He grew up successful a Camden suburb and enrolled arsenic a nonresident pupil astatine the Camden Big Picture Learning Academy, a metropolis magnet schoolhouse whose students tin vie connected Camden High sports teams.

"I instrumentality a batch of pridefulness successful playing for Camden," helium says. "There is nary amended feeling successful the world."

But Wagner can't enactment successful Camden forever. Like each apical precocious schoolhouse elder successful the country, helium volition soon person to beryllium himself beyond the harmless clasp of home. And Wagner's determination of wherever to play adjacent doesn't conscionable interaction him. He carries a household sanction that brings pressure, built up implicit 3 generations, arsenic good arsenic the lofty expectations of a assemblage that already salutes him arsenic a star.

FIRST, THERE WAS the grandfather.

Milt Wagner grew up successful Camden and played successful the city's younker leagues. As a kid helium revered Camden High stars led by manager Clarence Turner, who molded the Panthers into a powerhouse successful the 1970s and '80s. He was an eighth-grader competing for a mediate schoolhouse title the archetypal clip helium played a existent crippled connected the tribunal astatine Camden High School. Coach Turner was determination to watch. "That was large for me," Milt, present 59, says. "That was a large thrill."

Wagner came of property arsenic a subordinate astatine a clip erstwhile his metropolis was successful a downward spiral, and adjacent then, helium could consciousness that Camden High hoops was a civic lifeline.

"I deliberation due to the fact that determination is truthful overmuch negativity talked astir successful Camden, the crippled became much important," helium says. "That is the agleam airy successful our metropolis that everybody gets behind."

When helium became a Panther, Wagner says, helium realized conscionable however overmuch the metropolis wrapped itself astir the team. He returned the embrace.

"Once we got it started, I wasn't conscionable representing the Wagner name, I was representing our city," Wagner says. "I deterioration Camden connected my thorax wherever I go. When I execute something, Camden is accomplishing something."

The slender 6-foot-5 shooting defender led the Panthers to the 1979 New Jersey authorities title earlier going connected to prima for the Louisville Cardinals, starring them to 3 Final Fours and the 1986 nationalist championship. He won an NBA rubric with the Los Angeles Lakers successful 1988 earlier playing overseas.

Next came the father.

Dajuan Wagner, 39, is the starring scorer successful New Jersey precocious schoolhouse history. As a freshman, helium erstwhile scored 45 points successful a crippled and arsenic a elder helium went for 100. The almighty 6-foot-2 defender led the Panthers to a authorities title successful 2000 and was the apical scorer for the Memphis Tigers during his lone collegiate season. He was the No. 6 prime successful the 2002 NBA draft, but wounded and unwellness derailed his career. During the 2004-2005 season, helium was hospitalized with ulcerative colitis. He underwent country to person a information of his colon removed, and by 2006 helium was retired of the league.

His vocation over, Dajuan chose to spell home. He moved backmost to Camden, reconnected with The High and began grooming his lad successful the household business. Of each his achievements, Dajuan counts winning the authorities title astatine Camden High arsenic his astir memorable hoops moment. "I got drafted but winning the authorities title for my city, that was the best," Dajuan told SLAM Magazine successful 2020.

And helium made it a constituent to steep D.J. successful that heritage. When Dajuan started helping the Panthers, D.J. joined him astatine practice. During games, helium sat adjacent to his begetter connected the bench, cheering connected the players, sharing successful their victories and defeats and soaking successful the city's passion. Meanwhile, D.J. worked retired nether his father's tutelage, learning immoderate of the game's subtleties, and becoming a standout wherever helium played.

By the clip helium got to The High, the lad was prepared to proceed the Wagner tradition.

D.J., a sleek, 6-3 combo guard, led a stacked Panthers squad to a authorities title past season, averaging implicit 19 points a game. He inactive has a teenager's slim build, and what sets him isolated is not needfully his size oregon athleticism, recruiters say, but his savvy knowing of however to acceptable the gait of a game. He besides has outstanding footwork, velocity and balance.

Wagner has said helium plans to be assemblage earlier going pro. Kentucky, led by his father's assemblage manager John Calipari, and Louisville, wherever his gramps played and was hired successful May to head hoops subordinate improvement and alumni relations, are wide seen arsenic the front-runners.

Wherever helium chooses, helium has the imaginable to spell further than some his dada and his grandfather, to go the biggest NBA prima to travel retired of Camden yet.

"Going to the NBA is astir similar hitting the lottery," Miller says. "But it gives radical present a consciousness of anticipation and pridefulness that D.J. could perchance marque it."

CAMDEN, WHICH SITS on 9 quadrate miles conscionable crossed the Delaware River from Philadelphia, was erstwhile renowned arsenic a manufacturing hub, churning retired products from Navy vessels and RCA Victor phonographs to Campbell's soup. But astir of Camden's factories unopen down agelong ago, choking disconnected cardinal routes to working-class prosperity and helping to trigger an exodus. The city's colonisation dwindled from 124,000 successful 1950 to 72,000 successful 2021, and one-third of its residents unrecorded successful poverty. As precocious arsenic 1970, Camden was bulk white, but the metropolis is present 93% Black and Hispanic.

As Camden shrank and its taxation basal eroded, it became infamous for convulsive transgression and blight. Today, galore of its rowhouse neighborhoods are gap-toothed, marked by vacant homes and litter-strewn lots. Abandoned concern sites predominate different parts of the city, and overmuch of the downtown is eerily quiet, adjacent during concern hours.

But the metropolis is trying to rebuild. Bucking a nationalist trend, convulsive transgression is down importantly successful caller years and caller jobs are emerging, peculiarly successful wellness care. The metropolis has demolished hundreds of vacant homes, and caller buildings, including Camden's archetypal edifice successful a fractional period and a grooming halfway for the Philadelphia 76ers, person risen on the waterfront.

Through the diminution and rebirth, the Panthers' dominance has been a changeless and the squad is woven done the cloth of the city. City governmental leaders, including Mayor Victor Carstarphen, the schoolhouse committee president and a erstwhile subordinate of the metropolis assembly and authorities legislature, erstwhile wore the Panthers' purple and gold. Camden's schoolhouse superintendent is simply a erstwhile cheerleader astatine The High. People present telephone that much than coincidence.

"Do I deliberation I'd beryllium politician if I hadn't played?" chuckles Carstarphen, who spent six years coaching astatine The High earlier going into politics. "That's a bully question. I deliberation it helped elevate my profile."

Camden named a thoroughfare extracurricular the schoolhouse aft the team's archetypal large star, Ron "Itchy" Smith. The gymnasium bears the sanction of manager Turner, who led the Panthers to 7 authorities championships, and the squad plays connected Dajuan Wagner Court. People of each ages battalion the bleachers astatine location games and a ample contingent of Panthers fans follows the squad connected the road. The acquainted chant, "You privation The High? You got The High!" has echoed astatine Panthers games for decades.

Last year, erstwhile Camden County needed assistance getting much radical vaccinated against COVID-19, it called connected D.J. to drum up support. "This is your shot," helium says successful a video campaign.

"You've heard the cliché that hoops is simply a religion. But it is genuinely portion of our fabric," Carstarphen says. "Honestly, erstwhile our hoops programme is going, you tin spot the quality successful the community. Everyone's excited, happy. It conscionable benignant of flows over."

A BUZZ SURROUNDS the New Jersey Scholars successful July astatine Peach Jam, the capstone of the Nike AAU hoops season. Coming into the tournament, the Scholars, which includes Wagner and 3 different Camden High players, is among the champion connected the summertime circuit.

Lines forms extracurricular the gymnasium agelong earlier they instrumentality the court. Fans look down from a walking way connected a higher floor, intent connected sizing Wagner up. His leap changeable is off, but helium inactive wows the assemblage with his speedy rushes up the court, stutter-step moves and his uncanny quality to snake done the lane.

For Wagner, who is conscionable a mates weeks removed from winning a golden medal with the U.S. squad astatine the FIBA U-17 World Cup successful Spain, the attraction appears to beryllium nary large deal. Between games, helium laughs with his teammates, peeks successful connected the contention and cheers connected Scholars squads playing successful younger property divisions.

He has stood astatine the apical of his recruiting people since helium started precocious school, but helium carries himself with a quiescent humility, adjacent getting h2o for his teammates erstwhile helium is connected the bench. Unlike galore of his peers, helium posts sparingly connected societal media. "That is conscionable my personality," helium says. "I americium fundamentally a shy person."

Although D.J. grew up extracurricular Camden successful Gloucester County, galore successful the metropolis ever expected helium would play for The High. "I wouldn't person thought it would [have] ever been a doubt," says Wasim Muhammad, who heads the schoolhouse advisory board.

D.J. arrived connected the Camden High squad successful 2019 arsenic it was going done a peculiarly frustrating stretch. The Panthers had not won a authorities title since Dajuan led them to the crown successful 2000. Compounding matters, they finished 2nd successful the authorities tourney 8 times betwixt 2001 and 2017.

D.J. became the linchpin successful the effort to enactment The High backmost connected top. The squad brought successful apical players from 5 counties extracurricular Camden to assistance him, including 7-foot halfway Aaron Bradshaw, who precocious committed to Kentucky. The players either moved to the metropolis oregon attended magnet schools arsenic out-of-district students.

Wagner was a sensation from the start, helping to pb the Panthers to a 29-1 grounds successful his freshman year. But the pandemic halted the school's thrust for a authorities championship. The squad was undefeated successful his sophomore year, but the authorities title tourney was again cancelled owed to the pandemic.

The Panthers yet broke done past season, winning the 2022 authorities championship. Wagner was named New Jersey's precocious schoolhouse hoops subordinate of the year. The metropolis threw a triumph parade for the Panthers, arsenic good arsenic 3 different metropolis teams that won championships successful different sports.

The Panthers' victory, however, came with a broadside of controversy. A study by New Jersey Advance Media alleged that Camden violated authorities rules by recruiting the out-of-district players and offering them low-cost tuition deals unavailable to different students. As a result, the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association launched an probe that is ongoing, officials said. Camden officials person denied the allegations, saying the out-of-district enrollments were handled properly.

Allegations of cheating are not antithetic successful precocious schoolhouse sports, adjacent if they are infrequently upheld. But if it is proved that Camden broke the rules, the Panthers could look superior consequences. Earlier this fall, authorities diversion officials banned a New Jersey precocious schoolhouse from this year's shot playoffs and placed it connected a two-year probation for improperly recruiting a rival player. Two coaches besides received suspensions.

Regardless of the investigation, Camden is acceptable for different championship, different play of glory for D.J. and the Wagner hoops bequest earlier helium starts his ascent up the hoops pyramid. They anticipation to spot him connected apical someday, the biggest prima Camden has produced successful its agelong enactment of prodigies.

"This is simply a mediocre city; it was really, truly atrocious astatine 1 time," says Kevin Cooke, who attended The High successful the 1980s. "But to spot a kid similar that doing thing for himself and doing thing for the assemblage is simply a large thing. That is similar each we got here: Camden High School basketball."