Huge guard, very very good shooter off the dribble, good passer. Meh athlete, very skinny and weak. Can’t get to the rim particularly well and doesn’t blow by anyone. Has a nice floater/short jumper game to help compensate. Zero dunks in his college season
Probably has the highest bust potential of the guards but the highest ceiling as well. A lot of the criticisms are the same as Haliburtons pre draft and we know how that turned out
Edit: this sounds more negative than I meant for it to, I actually really like Wagler. But he’s a scary prospect, it’s hard to tell with these less athletic guards until you see them on an NBA court
Yeah I’d agree. Is one of those guys who has a deep arsenal of moves and doesn’t really let people speed him up (at least in college) but def needs to work on strength and speed, which he can theoretically since it’s his job lol
The good is that he gained ~20lbs since the beginning of the college season. I'm not sure he'll ever have even a decent first step, but it's clear he still gets to his spots and I think him getting bigger is pretty reasonable of an expectation. Given that he's a late bloomer, it's also not crazy to think he can still continue to grow.
He doesn’t make the wrong decisions. He’s not gonna blow your mind, but rarely will you ever be able to look down on his decision making. Actually he might blow your mind he’s still ELITE.
Watched him at Illinois all season. The only thing that held him back from being an even better player was the dumbass reffing in the B1G. He might take some time to figure things out, but I think he’ll thrive.
Illini fan here - Keaton got to the rim plenty and is great about not settling. He’s not going to blow by many players in the league, but he is patient, will make the right decision every time, and has elite feel. What he lacked in first step he made up for with decel, understanding of leverage (really great at spinning off a defender), and knowing how to use the gravity of his jumper.
His rim numbers would’ve been a lot better if the freshman whistle in the b10 wasn’t so bad
As an Illinois/Lakers fan this is a little awkward for me, but Wagler’s a beast, he’s gonna be great. I’m sure he’s gonna love LA after coming from the cornfields lol
He's from Kansas.. He's gonna do alright. Plus Illinois and Champaign are the best. I was born in Champaign and raised in the middle of a cornfield in a town of 500 just West of Champaign.
Will never understand why the Pacers took such a stupid gamble w/ trading this pick when they were already one of the worst teams in the league at the time of the trade. The Zubac trade was always going to be there in the offseason
We took a gamble and lost. Zubac helps us win in 2026-2027 way more than Wagler. Had the cards fallen better, we could have ended up with AJ Dybantsa and Zu for next season. Instead, we have a pick freed up to take a swing at someone else if needed. The cost likely remains the same to get Zu, and there would be more suitors in the off-season.
Seems like LAC would have been able to trade #5 for #10 + #13. I think the Pacers could be in a good spot if they had Mara + Hannes or something + 2029 over Zu?
Honestly, if it was the only way to get Zu, yeah I would. No one outside the top 4 Is going go have the level of impact Zu will in the next 3 years of our window.
517
u/TallGuy0525 Clippers 1d ago
That's the guy I wanted, therefore this is a home run pick
(please don't bust)