Former Illinois Fighting Illini basketball star Keaton Wagler took an NBA regular season court for the first time ever Wednesday night and made the most of it despite not getting the start for coach Tyronn Lue's team.

Wagler stuffed the stat sheet in 29 minutes of action, third on his team in scoring behind Brook Lopez and Darius Garland. 

When the final buzzer sounded, Wagler found himself in rare territory with Philadelphia 76ers superstar and NBA legend LeBron James, after a statistical achievement Illini fans are used to seeing from his days in Champaign, Ill. 

Wagler finished with 15 points, five assists and five rebounds, putting him in rare company with 'The King,' LeBron James.

"Keaton Wagler is the youngest player to have an NBA debut with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists on 50-plus percent field goal percentage since...LeBron James," AP Hoops wrote, sharing news of Wagler's impressive accomplishment. 

Wagler turned up the heat after averaging 12 points per game during exhibition play, and continued to show his evolution as an all-around player on a night when he led his team to a big victory over Doug Christie's Sacramento Kings. 

His first game stats weren't far off from his freshman numbers with Illinois, his first and only college basketball season. Wagler averaged 17.9 points per game, 5.1 rebounds per game and 4.2 assists per game in Champaign, a freshman season to remember. 

Wagler was the Illini's first NBA first round pick since Will Riley was selected by the Utah Jazz with the 21st pick in last year's draft, and is part of a string of four first-round picks over the last three seasons for coach Brad Underwood's team. 

Wagler, Lue and the Clippers will next take on Luka Doncic, JJ Redick and the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena on Friday at 10 p.m. ET, giving the Illinois rookie a potential chance to test himself against one of the league's best perimeter players.

Doncic put up 28 points on 5-of-12 shooting in the Lakers' opening game, a win over the Golden State Warriors in Los Angeles. 

Doncic got into a war of words with former Michigan star and NBA rookie forward Yaxel Lendeborg in the Lakers' opener, a template Wagler can draw from as he prepares to take on one of the league's best players, and potentially one of its better teams, in Friday's crosstown rivalry game.