NBA trade deadline candidate No. 10: Marvin Bagley III
Getting drafted ahead of Luka Doncic and Trae Young ain’t easy. Especially when you haven’t shown any positive signs on the court, while the aforementioned duo is paving their way towards All-Star and All-NBA selections.
To all fairness, Bagley has not been all that fortunate when it comes to injuries. In fact, he just surpassed the 100-game mark, which is not all that impressive for a player currently on his third season as a pro.
Bagley’s productivity has been steadily dropping. After having an All-Rookie caliber first season in the league, his numbers have dipped slightly in almost every statistical category, with his time on the floor constantly being the 25-minute per game mark.
Marvin Bagley seems to be stuck in a very unfortunate scenario, in which the Sacramento Kings are not using him as they should. Since the day he came into the league, Bagley has been just another scoring option, after De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield.
By pursuing a trade away from Sacramento, Bagley can reunite with his old Duke self, and show that the scouts were right to name him as the basketball’s top prospect coming out of high school in 2017.
Will Bagley manage to fulfill his potential elsewhere? If not, we could be talking about him the same way we do about Darko Milicic, Hasheem Thabeet, Michael Beasley and Marvin Williams, all of which were drafted ahead of Hall-of-Famers.