Ultimate challenge for Marvin Bagley III with Sacramento Kings
By Rafe Wong
Bagley’s reality as a King … but there’s hope
The decision Vlade Divac made in the 2018 draft looks to be worse by the day as Luka Doncic continues to thrive and Marvin Bagley III struggles to find a niche with the Sacramento Kings. Bagley being reminded countless times that the fans of his team wished they had someone else is not ideal either.
It is a tough situation for any 20-year-old to experience, but this is the reality for Bagley. Although he may never be successful in completely shutting up the Doncic noise, it is not necessary if he wants to still be a success while in a Sacramento uniform.
The fact is that Bagley is still a promising prospect who can become a significant building block for the Kings’ rebuild. In terms of talent, he has the makeup of an Amar’e Stoudemire or Chris Bosh, which is being a dominant scorer in the interior, but also a legit threat when extending his game outside the paint.
Defensively, Bagley has the athleticism to be an elite rim protector and a rebounding machine.
Although Bagley is not there yet, he has the physical tool set to become an elite power forward in today’s NBA, but he needs to get back to showing continuous progress. This is a challenging task for the high-flying 20-year-old, but being drafted second overall in your draft class comes with big responsibilities and expectations.