Capital Christian’s D.J. Wilson is bringing the beat back with the Milwaukee Bucks
It was business as usual for Capital Christian graduate D.J. Wilson on Friday night.
The forward walked through Golden 1 Center with his Milwaukee Bucks teammates, just like he does at 29 other NBA arenas. He got a little playing time, he navigated a busy locker room and the Bucks got a win. Just like usual.
While the Bucks are running away with the Eastern Conference with their 35-6 record at the midway point of the season, the trip home was a break from the norm for Wilson. He saw his family and he was happy to talk to The Bee about his passion outside of basketball — hip-hop.
“I’m big into music,” Wilson told The Bee. “I listen to music 24/7, you can ask (my teammates), I’m the music head. I’m the one always in the locker room playing music, putting guys on. I kind of pride myself in that area, but you know, it’s all genres I’m not really picky.”
In his third year in the NBA, Wilson is clearly comfortable with the Bucks, who drafted him in 2017 out of Michigan. Wilson said in the past year some of his go-to artists have been J. Cole, Young Thug, Lil Durk and Boogie.
But his playing time has dropped this year, down from over 18 minutes a game last year to over nine minutes a game this season. Against the Kings, the 6-foot-10 forward played the final 2:40 of the game, recording two assists and a rebound once the outcome was no longer in doubt.
After moving to the 916 from the Bay Area, Wilson played four years of high school varsity basketball at Capital Christian School in the Rosemont area of Sacramento from 2010 to 2014, with his final two years led by Devon Jones at head coach.
“When I first met him, he was a quiet kid,” Jones said. “Very well-mannered, you can definitely tell he was raised the right way. He was definitely very long, you know, he had a long body, long arms, long legs. You could definitely see that he would probably be pretty tall.”
From his freshman year to his senior year, Wilson grew 7 inches from 6-foot-2 to 6-foot-9.
Before beginning his junior season at Capital Christian, Wilson suffered a setback with stress fractures in his lower back. It happened again the following year.
“I think that was even tougher the second time around,” Wilson said. “It was adversity that I had to fight through and I think that’s a big reason why I’m here today.”
The injuries impacted the amount of recruiting he received, which for Wilson, motivated him even more.
“It was nothing but pure motivation,” Wilson said. “I made the most of it. So I think it was a blessing in disguise.”
Jones said Wilson’s discipline and work ethic enabled him to persevere amid a tough injury.
“He was really disciplined in his rehab,” Jones said. “He did everything the doctors asked him to do. Personal training was helping him strengthen areas of his body that were deficient at the time. He got through it pretty quick, but he didn’t take any shortcuts. He was really diligent about his rehab.”
According to Wilson, he and Jones still talk every day and remain very close as he is a role model and father figure in his life.
Wilson would go on to play three years at the University of Michigan under coach John Beilein before being drafted 17th overall by the Bucks in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer has coached Wilson two of his first three years in the NBA and complimented Wilson’s versatility.
“He puts a ton of work in,” Budenholzer said. “He’s a really smart player. I think his ability to play on the perimeter for us and give him that freedom to shoot threes. Offensively, hopefully playing the way we do is giving him an opportunity to just kind of put him in his comfort zone. Defensively, very athletic, can defend the paint, rebound (and) guard multiple positions. He is a good young player that we’re really excited about.”
While he lives in the Midwest, Wilson stays true to his California roots. In addition to staying in touch with Jones, his 132,000 Instagram followers are treated to San Francisco 49ers stories. On Twitter, he pushed for Elk Grove native Arik Armstead to earn a Pro Bowl nod. The handle for both social media accounts is Lanky Smoove, a throwback to his high school days.
“I think my 10th or 11th grade year in high school, during an AAU tournament, some guys said it,” Wilson said. “One guy called me lengthy and another dude called me smooth cause we were just throwing out nicknames for each other. They started calling me it and then when I made my social media accounts, it kind of just stuck. So ever since that day I’ve been ‘Lanky Smoove.’”
This story was originally published January 12, 2020 at 7:48 AM.