Dajuan Marquett Wagner (born February 4, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player. He is the son of former University of Louisville and National Basketball Association (NBA) player Milt Wagner and left the NBA because of debilitating health problems early into his career. He was drafted 6th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2002 NBA draft.
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Early life
In Wagner's career at Camden High School he once scored 100 points in a high school game. Wagner averaged 42.5 points as a senior, scored 3,462 points in high school (the most in New Jersey high school history, breaking former high school star Lorne Singleton's scoring record of 3,451 points), and scored 25 points in the McDonald's All-American Game. Wagner is considered by many to be the greatest high school basketball player in New Jersey history.
College career
He played one year of college basketball at the University of Memphis. His coach, John Calipari, revoked Wagner's scholarship after his freshman year to force him to enter the NBA, because Calipari believed that Wagner should not avoid the money he would receive as a first-round draft pick.
Professional career
Wagner was chosen with the sixth overall pick of the 2002 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. In his rookie season he averaged 13.4 points per game and shot 36.9% from the field. In the later part of his rookie year, Wagner often attended the trial of his stepfather Leonard "Pooh" Paulk, who was indicted as an alleged drug supplier.
Wagner was hampered by injuries and health problems thereafter. He averaged a career-low 4.0 points in 11 games played during the 2004-05 season, and was hospitalized for ulcerative colitis. The Cavaliers did not exercise their option on his contract for the 2005-06 season and subsequently Wagner was out of the league.
His colitis condition was not amenable to medication and, after consulting with New York Knicks head coach Larry Brown, who referred him to a New York medical expert, Wagner underwent surgery to remove half his colon on October 25, 2005, at Mount Sinai Hospital.
In April 2006, Wagner began training with former high school rival Omar Wellington at Nexxt Level Sports in Cherry Hill Township, New Jersey. During his recovery, he was featured in the Philadelphia Daily News and on Comcast SportsNet; both reported that he would be attempting a comeback for the 2006 season.
On September 22, 2006, he signed a two-year $1.6 million contract with the Golden State Warriors. On November 20, two months after he recovered from a serious illness to make an NBA comeback, the Warriors bought out his contract after he had played one game and scored four points with the team.
On August 31, 2007, Wagner signed a one-year contract with Prokom Trefl Sopot in Poland. Averaging 8.3 points in six games, he returned to South Jersey after hurting his hip and reinjuring his knee in Poland.
On October 12, 2015, he decided to return to basketball and signed with the AmeriLeague. However, the league folded after it was discovered that the founder was a con artist.
Wagner has been a resident of West Deptford Township, New Jersey.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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