Sacramento Kings: Crowded frontcourt complicates 2019-20 outlook

Storyline 2: Bagley’s next step?

Assuming that Marvin Bagley’s playing time gets prioritized in the logjam, it will be intriguing to see what he brings in year two. He seems like a solid complement to De’Aaron Fox as an athletic rim runner and transition threat.

His per-75 possession tallies of 20.6 points and 10.5 rebounds last season were not too shabby. Though a lot of late-season surges should be taken with heavy context, Bagley did average 18.5 points, 9.2 boards and 0.9 blocks on after the All-Star break, knocking down 39.0 percent of 2.2 3-point attempts per contest as well.

How much of that was real remains to be seen. Playing next to Dewayne Dedmon, a floor-spacing big who can hold down the fort defensively, will help mask Bagley’s weaknesses.

As for the rest of the rotation, Bagley won’t have much cover. The Sacramento Kings are going to try and beat teams by running, which makes sense with Fox as the alpha. Those easy buckets will be Bagley’s bread-and-butter, but how he operates sans Fox will be even more interesting.

Harrison Barnes has improved as a shooter over the past few years, knocking down 37.9 percent of a sizable 5.0 3-point attempts per game since 2017. Dedmon has knocked down 37.2 percent of 2.2 such attempts per game over that time. Buddy Hield is an elite volume shooter, both off the catch and as a creator.

Nemanja Bjelica and Trevor Ariza will help when they’re in, but how much the former plays in that loaded frontcourt remains to be seen.

There is some spacing for Bagley to go to work in the half court, but is it enough?