Kings big man Marvin Bagley III has officially been ruled out for the NBA’s season restart due to a lateral sprain in his right foot following an MRI on Sunday evening, according to Sam Amick and Shams Charania of the Athletic (Twitter link). He is expected to be in a walking boot for the next two weeks, Charania tweets.
A press release from the team indicates that Bagley suffered the injury in a team scrimmage on Sunday (h/t to James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area who first tweeted the announcement).
Bagley, the No. 2 pick in a loaded 2018 draft that has already yielded two All-Stars, posted 2019/20 season averages of 14.2 PPG and 7.5 RPG across just 13 games in 25.7 MPG. He also missed 20 games during his 2018/19 rookie season.
Bagley had previously missed most of his second season as a result of a left foot sprain and a thumb injury. This right foot sprain is a new injury. In addition to this being a long-term situation to monitor for the 6’11” Duke alum, this also spells bad short-term news for the Kings. Teams can only replace players afflicted with COVID-19 when on the Disney World campus, not players who get injured on-site.
Bagley is not the only current absent player for the Kings. Forward Harrison Barnes has yet to report to the NBA’s campus after contracting the coronavirus earlier this month. Starting point guard De’Aaron Fox returned to non-contact drills with the team today as he continues to recover from a less severe ankle injury.
At 28-36, the team is the eleventh seed in the Western Conference and was thus already a long shot to make the playoffs even before these absences.
I hope Bagley’s foot problems don’t become chronic. It’d be a shame to have a former top prospect’s career completely beset by injury in a similar fashion to Greg Oden. Besides, we all know the Kings have had enough problems drafting the past 15 years…
And to think we could have had Luka… the eternal pain of being a Kings fan.
It’s the 1984 draft all over again. Bagley was a poor selection regardless of health. Vlade has to go. Can anyone name a former power forward or center that became an even adequate GM? I can’t. Bigs love bigs and it blinds them.