LAS VEGAS \u2014 Keaton Wagler looked headed for a second straight forgettable Las Vegas Summer League performance.<\/p>\n
The fifth pick in June\u2019s NBA Draft, Wagler took just seven shots en route to a quiet seven-point performance Thursday against the Sacramento Kings. Three days later, the LA Clippers\u2019 highest draft pick in 17 years missed six of seven first-half shots against the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n
But Wagler was \u201caggressive from the start\u201d on Sunday, and that early aggression was rewarded in the third quarter when he scored as many points (18) as the entire Jazz team. Wagler hit shots after off-ball screens and got to his spots for pull-ups. He and Darryn Peterson, the No. 2 pick in the draft, both finished with game highs of 23 points, but Wagler\u2019s Clippers got a 104-82 win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of just gives me that thought in the back of my mind of like, you know, I can still do this at this level,\u201d Wagler told The Athletic following his breakout performance Sunday. \u201cLike, I knew. I knew that I could play that way and that it would come. But you know, just being able to do that after the last game \u2026 I would say it\u2019s more of a confidence boost than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
That could be a boon for the Clippers if maintained properly. Wagler\u2019s skill set suggests he has a high floor as a 6-foot-5 guard capable of playing multiple positions. But his teammate at Illinois, Kylan Boswell, who is signed to a two-way contract with the Charlotte Hornets, thinks there is a notable ceiling for Wagler to reach, as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeaton will be a superstar for that team,\u201d Boswell told The Athletic. \u201cAll the GMs and the front office, they know. There\u2019s a reason they (took) him at five. They can see the future and the situation that they\u2019re building.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis style of game reminds me a lot like Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander). It\u2019s kind of crazy to say, but I feel it can pan out to be that type of elevation in his game. He\u2019s just very calm; he\u2019s always balanced with himself. He always gets to spots with shots that he likes. \u2026 It\u2019s just gonna take time for him. I feel like hitting the weight room will be huge for him. But overall, you gotta let a superstar grow into a superstar.\u201d<\/p>\n
How Keaton Wagler came from out of nowhere to become a top NBA prospect<\/p>\n
Sam Vecenie<\/p>\n
Wagler is a part of one of the 21st century\u2019s more stacked guard classes. Peterson was taken second in what many considered an above-average draft, with Wagler, Mikel Brown Jr., Darius Acuff Jr., Kingston Flemings and Brayden Burries all selected in the top 10. Brown wound up watching Acuff and Wagler play against each other in the Clippers-Sacramento Kings summer-league game, while Acuff watched part of the Clippers-Jazz game that featured Wagler and Peterson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s honestly super cool being a part of this class,\u201d Wagler said before his first game against the Kings. \u201cIt is one of the best classes that we\u2019ve seen \u2014 all the different guards. I mean, everyone is dynamic in their own ways. It\u2019s cool to see how each person fits in with each team and how they play. It\u2019s really cool to see that.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to go against some of the guards this week during summer league will be good, a good test for me. Just getting out there to, you know, get going and kind of get my feet under me. \u2026 It\u2019s summer league, but I\u2019m still going to take it serious and do my best out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagler, however, is an anomaly among those top-10 guards. He was the only one of the six who wasn\u2019t ranked in the top 15 of his class entering college, and he wasn\u2019t ranked at all coming out of Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in Kansas. Wagler will also be the last of the six guards to turn 20, with his birthday not until February.<\/p>\n
But that doesn\u2019t mean Wagler didn\u2019t think he could play at a high level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my junior year is when I really started to get a lot better. \u2026 My game just excelled in a big way,\u201d he said. \u201cI think I just took that with me everywhere I went. Those two last years of my high school, AAU and regular high school, I just played with a lot of confidence. \u2026 I didn\u2019t really score that much in high school because of how good our team was. But AAU, I was like the main guy that would score the ball all the time. So, I think having those two different things really helped me work on my game in both ways. That\u2019s kind of how I became the player that I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
One player Wagler faced before college was Flemings, the 2025 Texas Gatorade Player of the Year and a former college standout at Houston. Flemings\u2019 last game with the Cougars was a Sweet 16 loss to Wagler\u2019s Fighting Illini, who eventually advanced to the Final Four. Wagler and Flemings also worked out against each other for the Clippers in the pre-draft process.<\/p>\n
Flemings told The Athletic that the guards atop the draft have a \u201cmutual respect for each other,\u201d even though \u201cevery single player is looking out for themselves, trying to get better every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and Keaton are really cool, so we talk a lot,\u201d Flemings said. \u201cAfter Keaton beat me in college, he told me that we played against each other when we were younger. \u2026 Obviously, you know, a guy like that wasn\u2019t highly touted coming into this season and really proved everyone wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagler really made himself comfortable once he got to Illinois to play for head coach Brad Underwood. The Fighting Illini had a decent 2024-25 season that featured a starting backcourt of 2025 first-round pick Kasparas Jaku\u010dionis and Boswell, a transfer from Arizona. Illinois coaches expected Wagler to be a redshirt candidate when he arrived on campus. Clippers basketball president Lawrence Frank said Boswell went to Underwood after summer ball and said of Wagler, \u201cThis dude\u2019s really f\u2014ing good. He\u2019s really, really good. He\u2019s a killer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boswell, a senior entering the 2025-26 season, played Wagler one-on-one before the season. As a renowned defender with a strong body for a guard, Boswell tried to trash-talk Wagler. It didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust tried to get him riled up, get him off his game,\u201d Boswell said. \u201cBut just throughout that entire time of ones, he stayed composed. Right there, I was like, it wasn\u2019t even about the talent. \u2026 Me knowing what I do best \u2014 guarding, getting in people\u2019s heads, being a pest \u2014 it didn\u2019t derail him in any kind of way. He just continued to stay himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that, that\u2019s when I went to Brad and told him that, yeah, he\u2019s going to be legit for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why the Clippers took a chance on Keaton Wagler<\/p>\n
Law Murray and Jeshua Kidd<\/p>\n
Wagler\u2019s athletic profile has been a topic of interest ever since he established himself on the scene. His youthful appearance and lithe frame belie what he can do to be successful on the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always kind of been looked at as someone who\u2019s, like, smaller \u2026 skinnier and more slim than others,\u201d said Wagler, who\u2019s up to nearly 190 pounds after adding roughly 20 since the college season ended. \u201cObviously a baby face, but I didn\u2019t really care about that. I kind of just know the player that I am. So, I went out there and played each game like how I always do. And then, I think that killer mentality is something that I\u2019ve had, just going out each game wanting to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagler also had no dunks at Illinois, but he told The Athletic that he is going to try to get one during summer league.<\/p>\n
\u201cI gotta show people that I can dunk, and that it\u2019s not a thing I can\u2019t do,\u201d Wagler said. \u201cSo, we\u2019ll see if I get one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Summer league is the first step in a long runway for a rookie guard. There\u2019s still training camp, preseason and an 82-game season that will come with inevitable trials and tribulations. Being such a high pick in a class full of players at his position, Wagler will be under a microscope.<\/p>\n
But Wagler is in his current position because he has excelled in the stages preceding this moment. He intends to play freely and keep his confidence high, whether he\u2019s missing shots or making mistakes. He has left good impressions on coaches, teammates and opponents along the way. That\u2019s what has gotten him here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just took that confidence into the college level and played my game like I was the best player on the court at all times,\u201d Wagler said. \u201cI just had that with me. And I\u2019m going to bring that with me in the pros.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 Keaton Wagler looked headed for a second straight forgettable Las Vegas Summer League performance. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,7367,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6],"class_list":["post-786385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-clippers","tag-basketball","tag-clippers","tag-illinois-fighting-illini","tag-la","tag-la-clippers","tag-laclippers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesclippers","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116918306988081665","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}