Clippers pick Illinois guard Keaton Wagler at No. 5 in NBA draft

PJ Green, The Kansas City Star on Jun 23, 2026

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Keaton Wagler has completed his climb from underrated recruit to top-5 pick in the NBA draft in just a year.

The 19-year-old Shawnee (Kan.) Mission Northwest alum shocked the nation as an All-American as a freshman for the University of Illinois. On Tuesday, he was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers at No. 5 overall in the NBA draft.

Wagler accepted his new Clippers jersey and took a picture with NBA commissioner Adam Silver in a gray suit and salmon colored tie.

He is the first Kansas City metro native taken in the draft since 2022, when University of Kansas products Ochai Agbaji (Oak Park HS) and Christian Braun (Blue Valley Northwest) were both first-round picks.

Wagler was the 261st-ranked player in last year’s recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite. The 6-foot-5 guard led Shawnee Mission Northwest to back-to-back Kansas Class 6A state championships as a junior and senior, the first titles in school history.

He continued that success at Illinois, one of his two major conference offers, and led them to their first Final Four since 2005.

A sharpshooting point guard, he averaged nearly 18 points a game and shot 44.5% from the field and 39.7% from 3.

He was a scoring machine at points in the season, setting an Illinois freshman record with 46 points on the road at Purdue in January. The game served as a nationwide announcement about the hidden gem who broke several records en route to being named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a consensus second-team All-American.