As the Rockets pulled away from the Kings in the fourth quarter Saturday with Marvin Bagley III on the bench, his father posted a trade request on Twitter, writes Jason Jones of The Athletic. The elder Bagley deleted the tweet, but the message that his son is unhappy with his current situation in Sacramento had already been sent.
It’s the second incident this week involving the Team Bagley account, Jones notes. On Tuesday, Bagley didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter of a game against Denver and the account retweeted an old post of Lakers fans expressing their anger at current Kings coach Luke Walton.
Asked about the situation after Saturday’s game, Walton explained that he had planned to put Bagley back on the floor, but decided to stick with Richaun Holmes because he was playing well. He suggested Holmes would have understood if the roles were reversed, adding that his decisions aren’t affected by anything that happens on social media.
“My message is always the same: We don’t listen to any of that,” Walton said. “It’s us within these walls, us within this locker room. We’re in this together. Good or bad, whatever people are saying, we’ve got to do everything we can to not let that affect what we’re trying to get done here.”
Bagley didn’t talk to the media after the game, but sources tell Jones he’s had a simmering feud with the organization since his rookie season. It began with a clash with former coach Dave Joerger, who was fired after Bagley’s first year, in part for not communicating better with his players.
The Kings took Bagley with the second pick in the 2018 draft, passing on Luka Doncic and Trae Young, two game-changing guards who have already become All-Stars. Bagley’s progress has been slowed by injuries that limited him to a combined 75 games in his first two seasons. He played just 13 games last year, breaking his right thumb in the season opener and spraining both feet along the way.
Bagley is off to a decent start this year, averaging 11.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per night. The Kings have already picked up his $11.3MM option for next season.
“He’s been great as far as actively learning, actively searching out to become better and get a better understanding of some of these types of things,” Walton said. “There’s mistakes happening, for sure, but as long as the player is trying and willing to do the things we’re asking, you live with those mistakes from young players. It’s the way our league is and the best teacher is always going to be experience, so the more he goes through things, the more he’ll pick them up. Like I said, he’s got a bright future ahead of him.”
These young players really shoot them selves in the foot all the time. He’s been injury prone and is just only starting show some signs. Holmes is the more effective defender at the moment and the Kings have been pretty good. Why affect team chemistry right now?
Well, he’s not going to get that max contract averaging 11pts and riding the bench during the 4th quarter.
He’s gotta earn that extra time. At the moment he’s got a ways to go
That’s one of the problems with the NBA players can control their own destiny theme we’ve seen ok ver the last decade or so.
That these big recruits come in, get tons their entire life how good they are, and then when some of them start losing in the NBA and arent happy, they want out before they ever even earn their billing as a legit player..
At least AD earned his way out of New Orleans, Bagley has all the talent, but dude you have to stay healthy and ball if you want to earn the right to control your own future.
He better be careful though, he starts acting up, and doesnt produce he’ll find himself getting shoved from team to team like Josh Jackson..Jackson has finally found a home now, but that was years of progress and money he lost changing teams
I agree with you, except so far it’s His Father making the demand, not him !!
“the best teacher is experience, the more he goes through things the more he’ll pick them up” luke walton. um, so like maybe let him play the 4th qtr so he can get that kind of experience.
His defensive instincts are terrible, and doesn’t space the floor. So he doesn’t positively contribute to winning yet. He proves that when he plays in the first and third quarter if you watch him off ball defensively.
He has a nice lefty jump hook on the low block. That’s the best thing in his game tho, and it’s not enough to offset his many limitations.
Anyone know what his value would be? Would suns be able to acquire him could slot in next to ayton and booker seamlessly
Baggley for dj Wilson and Torrey Craig
Are you on meth?
I don’t feel Bagley has trade market
Few teams are interested in him
Knicks are not
I think the Bucks would have to include more if only to match salary
While the Bucks need a front court player, he would be in a situation where he would be less likely to play and certainly not start.
If you cant start for the Kings, you’re not going to have much luck getting minutes elsewhere.
Trade him for Doncic. That’s who u should have drafted at 2.
Hey look another “hindsight GM” that always knows who to draft 3 years after the draft has taken place. I look forward to your soliloquy about how the Warriors messed up by drafting Todd Fuller 2 spots ahead of Kobe Bryant.
Everyone knew drafting Bagley over Doncic was a bad idea at the time. Lol
Except they didn’t know that. Most mocks had Bagley going at #2 behind either Ayton or Luka. Luka was shown at #1 in some mocks, but he was far from a guarantee. Some had him as low as 5. A lot of people had the Darko Milicic or Ricky Rubio fear about him. So “everyone” did not know and even the ones that predicted it correctly didn’t KNOW it.
Don’t be ridiculous man, mocks had Bagley going at 2 because Kings were sending signals they loved Bagley. Not everyone knew but most people were pretty sure that Doncic was the better choice.
Kings had to send signals about loving Bagley because basically said it was no chance he would play there. I think he refused to even work out for them.
Oh my goodness don’t remind me. I put out these names once in awhile. Warriors are almost Kings like in their drafting. Kings and hornets actually. Michael Petrus Patrick O’Bryant Ike diogu Juri Welsh and of course Todd Fuller. Yikes.
Sorry for bringing up bad memories Gary, but it’s always easy to use Golden State as an example of poor drafting. I would also add the Clippers to your list of poor drafting teams. They might actually be the all time worst in fact. Darius Miles? Yaroslav Korolev? Brice Johnson? Shaun Livingston over Devin Harris and Andre Iguodala? Chris Wilcox over Amare Stoudemire and Caron Butler? Al-Farouq Aminu over Gordon Hayward and Paul George? Jerome Robinson over Michael Porter Jr.?
I believe I will give the Warriors a break (for now) and start using the Clippers as my go-to bad drafting franchise option.
I wouldn’t knock the Clips on the Livingston pick. He was a good nba role player even with his athleticism completely sapped by that leg injury.
Fair point, but I remember that draft well. Livingston was talked about as the next Magic Johnson. Even before that leg injury, he was not going to come close to living up to that hype. He had a good career, but like many others was a victim of his high draft status. If he was a second round pick, he would be fine, but he was not great for a #4 pick.
Soliloquy is not the word you’re looking for here lol. Missive is probably more appropriate…but why don’t you keep it simple, write to your audience
If you can’t keep up with the vocabulary, then read someone else’s comments. I’m not dumbing myself down for anyone.
Just trade Dad and call it good.
He’s the number two pick in the draft. He should be playing. He and Fox should be building a foundation. Now being hurt does cramp that up. Considering his issues from the beginning. Fact that Walton doesn’t even say he is our future. At least say, we want him healthy cause he’s a big part of our future. Tells me he or franchise is not convinced about Bagley. And that’s even worse. I’ve seen this with a lot of teams. A lot of high picks or good young talent. Instead of playing them in Gleague. Then you keep them on bench. Whole point of minor leagues. Is to play and get better. Play and get in game shape. Play and learn the teams offense. Play and work on that one flaw. Playing a yr or less against NBA talent. Can only help the player and franchise. The Heat have used this to their advantage. I don’t get why more teams don’t do this. Even if you’re a lottery pick. Isn’t it better to play and grow. Than to sit and watch. Your G-league team is running your offense. Trained by your scouting staff and coaches. A G-league season is 50 gms. So even if you play the whole yr. You are still able to play with big club for 32 games. Or sit and learn ??
This is big boy basketball. No one deserves to play simply based on their draft ranking. If your “backup” is putting in more effort than you, then you will be on the bench no matter how high you were drafted.
Really you think you are in the streets. They drafted him ahead of the future face of the NBA. That big boy enough for you. You don’t bury that kind of talent for anyone. Now if there are issues their fans should know. If he’s healthy he should be playing. Or he should be in G league getting healthy. You don’t tell Sacramento Holmes gives better effort than the guy you took over Luka. Like I said he has to be playing or there is something else going on.
Drafting him over Doncic is immaterial at this point. They are not going to do a re-draft, so nothing can be changed about that now. Let it go.
However, you can compound past errors by not learning from them. Bagley should not, and will not, be allowed to coast on his #2 draft status forever. He is no longer a #2 pick. He is a 3rd year power forward that has yet to fully establish himself as a force in the NBA. If he doesn’t step up soon, then Sacramento would be fools to not let someone else take the spot.
Talk facts and ball. You here to vent go do it you children, child. You make it up as you go along. This ain’t a fight. Hes your highest pick in yrs. What part of that don’t you get. He’s played a total of 75 gms before this yr. Avg 25 mins a gm. In that time hes started 10 gms. So if he’s not 100% then get him 100% by playing him in G-league. What errors would that be you basketball little person. He’s played a total of 81 gms in his career. You don’t even have the decency to look up his stats to make a point. Go away before I use like yesterday’s news. Not only would Kings be FOOLS to not develop him. Don’t matter I think he’s worth it. The only fool is someone talking down Bagley and his talent. After 80 gms. In which I doubt you’ve ever watched any.
Um, what?
@KnickerbockerAl
No offense, but you’re one of the most mean-spirited and condescending commenters on here. You immediately bash anyone that has a different opinion than you and claim they, “don’t watch games.” It’s fine to disagree, but that doesn’t make the other party automatically wrong.
I think Hiflew made a fair point. Just because someone was once touted as a top draft pick doesn’t automatically mean they should earn minutes. Bagley has not played well defensively, with Holmes outperforming him considerably in that area. You mentioned sending him to the G-league, but Bagley is too talented to spend time there at this stage and would likely get even more frustrated. It was a tight game and Walton was only trying to roll out the most competitive lineup
I only seem mean to those who warrant it. Or are disrespectful. And I disagree. It’s not a fair point to talk smack about a guy who’s been hurt. Who the franchise obviously valued highly. And who you need to develop and need his talent on floor. No one has to agree with me. But you want make a point talk basketball. Not name call players and teams you don’t even watch. It’s childish and arrogant. Then you want to come at me causeI talk ball. I take meds fro nobody here. I’m too wise and knowledgeable to waste time on rants and name calling. Just read the original post. All it says is a high pick deserves his respect and due. So if a team doesn’t give him that. You have to wonder why. You really think that deserves a rant. It’s just ball and I got a lot of game.
Where exactly did I “talk smack” about Bagley? You just seem to be making up an argument with me that isn’t even there.
Imo, Knickerbocker is one of the most knowledgeable people on here. The reason y’all get offended is like he said, real basketball talk. Many commenters act like they’re in the front office of these teams and not just fans like everyone else. It takes real perspective to know this game and coming from a Knicks fan who’s suffered forever, you should be proud. Unlike the Houston fans who think they’ve had success and are unable to deal with reality.
Jimmy F, that was an unnecessary sneak diss, there was no reason to insert the MVP in that conversation.
He’s obviously not back bball-wise to where he was his first year so instead of working hard to get back to that form he has his dad demand a trade. He needs to display some of his old offensive form and play better D then demand a trade. His only value right now is his untapped(?) potential. If I am a GM how would I sell trading for him to my organization as a way to improve the team?
Exactly.
His best route is to win the starting job with great play, chin up, and hard work.
All he did was make us appreciate Rashaun Holmes defense and court awareness , while really hurting his son’s reputation
These guys like to say they are grown men when they want to enter the league at 18 or 19, but grown men don’t have Daddy fight their battles for them. These guys might be physically ready to be professionals, but a large number of them are not ready emotionally or socially. Physical is easy to maintain, but emotional and social only get fixed with time and effort. College coaches can do that, but pro coaches will just send your crying behind to someone else.
Sometimes true, but I think it’s less immaturity and more deniability. A player can act professional while putting some public pressure on the team this way.
I agree somewhat. However it’s different when a proven guy like James Harden does it. He has somewhat earned the right to dictate through his play and his time spent in the league. Marvin Bagley has earned nothing as of yet other than not fully living up to his draft status.
Put pressure on the org by playing great , telling Luke it’s your goal to play the important minutes by the end of the season and work with him.
Dont trash Luke behind his back and try to cry your way out .
We’re all on the same team here
Whiteside should be playing
It’s tough because on one hand he probably does need to prove he deserves playing in the 4th, on the other hand Walton is a horrible coach and I wouldn’t trust him to properly develope a cold let alone a basketball team.
I agree with a lot of what’s already been posted, but add that if your high draft pick you’re “trying” to develop can’t keep themselves on the floor due to competition/injury, you need to send him to the “minors” (ego and circumstances permitting) or trade him.
Bagley not getting PT signals the new front office doesn’t believe. Dad’s tweet isn’t so much a demand as much as a self-fulfilling prophecy given the “business” of the game.
As a neutral outsider, it’s hard not to feel the inept Kings and overhyped prospect deserve each other, but Bagley needs new scenery and the Kings need all the 2nd round picks they can get their hands on.
Bagley is a bench player on every other team.
Maybe a trade will help him realize that
Is someone looking here in the forum actually kings games? Whiteside didn’t earn many minutes right now. Bagley has strong tools on the offensive. He plays terribly in defense. He doesn’t manage to hold an Isah Hartenstein in front of him. Especially not a wood or point guards. We have a strong defense in the final quarter. It’s okay. That we don’t score is because Buddy Hield plays point guard too often. And Cory Joseph is also offensive … well. Everyone knows that we are not a playoff team yet. But we are competitive. And in 1 or 2 years everything will be fine. Bagley stays with us. Apart from player defense Pf like Isaac there is nothing that helps us in the trade
This is standard kings drama
#FreeMBIII
From what? Having to play better to earn crucial minutes?
5 Trade ideas
1. Marvin Bagley for Jarrett Culver and a top 20 protected first round pick.
2. Marvin Bagley for Romeo Langford, Grant Williams and 2 second round picks.
3. Marvin Bagley for Miles Bridges and Malik Monk
4. Marvin Bagley for Trevor Ariza and a top 5 protected first round pick.
5. Toronto: James Harden Marvin Bagley
Rockets: Pascal Siakim
Kings: Patrick McCaw and a first round pick (Toronto)
1. TWolves add a 4th young possible franchise piece. Russell Edwards Bagley and KAT.
2. Celtics add a young big man to be apart of the future with Tatum and Brown.
3. Hornets give up some depth from SG and SF to get better at PF/C.
4. Thunder give up one of its many picks to get a possible franchise piece. They can then build with SGA Dort Bazley and Bagley then Horford finishing the starting 5.
5. Toronto make a big move after a terrible start to the season. Siakim has had a slow start so maybe making a splash for Harden and staying young with Bagley is an idea. Rockets get Siakim who fits well with Wall and Wood. Kings get back a pick
3 is the only one that makes even some sense to me.
1 and 2 make no sense for the Kings. 4 is ridiculous. And 5 is just weird. Houston is not giving up James Harden in a 1 for 1 deal for Siakam. He’s a good player, but he is not THAT good. He could be the head of a strong package for Harden, but no way is he good enough for a straight up swap.
Firstly 5, Houston I think would love to get Siakim for Harden. Sixers have already said no to Simmons and Celtics said no to Brown. Siakim has won a ring and is a great two way player who can easily be a second or third star. (But I’m fairness can’t see that deal happening)
I think 1 makes a load of sense for the TWolves. Bagels paint presence would complement KATs shooting and make them great. As for the Kings they don’t have loads of depth at SG/SF so Culver the former top 10 pick would be a nice pick up and also getting back a first.
3 makes loads of sense for both
4 would be better for the Thunder but depending on the protections and how bad the Thunder are it could be a great deal. Especially in the next 2 drafts which are suppose to be loaded with talent
2 is far fetched but it’s hard to determine Bagelys value given he’s injured half the time and his number when he plays aren’t amazing just kinda average
I agree that Siakam can be a 2nd or 3rd star. Which is exactly why no one would trade a #1 guy for him straight up. A Siakam-led package could work, but not a 1 for 1 situation.
Siakam and FVF for Harden
Good. Riddance. Hope Sac can fool someone into gambling on this dude
Aside from Marvin Bagley and his dad, In my opinion the Kings will never go anywhere or take it to that next level as long as Luke Walton is the head coach. He’s a good dude and a nice assistant coach that’s it! The Kings will be tough in some games but record-wise with him, they will always be a .500 or barely under .500 team by the end of the season.
Agreed. Luke has been terrible with his rotations his entire coaching career and seems like he rarely makes adjustments or dials up plays to get his guys going. Great guy and a player friendly coach but like Luke just said, experience is the best teacher and he’s still a very young coach.
Spurs would be a great fit. They have mastered making bigs into great players in their offense, and he would grow defensively. When was the last time SA had a young top three draft pick? Not savvy enough to know how it would work in the trade machime…
Bagley is a lot more similar to Jhalil Okafor than Tim Duncan.
Bagley isnt even a top 10 player in his draft class
Maybe when he performs at a level that he’s getting paid at and when he actually is playing he can make requests.. until then, he needs to shut his mouth.. he needs to earn it.
The Kings can really be a frustrating team to watch, but not because Bagley should play more… actually, the opposite is true imo. The last two seasons, the most effective players on the Kings, ranked by on/off, have been Bjelica & Holmes by a significant margin… Bjelica’s on/off over the last two seasons averages out to +4. Holmes was at +5 last season. The next best on/offs on the Kings among key rotation players over the past two years are at less than half those numbers… Fox is at +1.6, Hield at +0.3, Barnes at -0.6… and Bagley is at -5.3.
Sure, on/off isn’t a be-all end-all stat by any means & it’s also influenced by lineups and other factors besides just performance to some extent… but over a two year stretch on a team that tried out many different rotations, it should be fairly reliable in at least a broad sense. In other words, (of course), I’m not claiming Bjelica’s value is EXACTLY +4… but if his on/off is more than double the next-highest player over the past two years, then IMO he’s probably the most effective player on the team over that time period. Or perhaps Holmes is, with only a 1-year sample on the Kings, but a very impressive one (and a similarly impressive previous year on the Suns)… but it looks to me like those are the top two Kings over the past two years…
Or you could argue, not unreasonably—(to be fair, I imagine this is likely the majority view)—that the higher volume roles Fox and Hield are in are simply so much tougher to fill than the roles played by Bjelica & Holmes that Fox & Hield deserve the “top two” spots… while I wouldn’t agree with that assessment—(and I think that sort of assumption is a common player-eval mistake that mostly just serves as an excuse to feed confirmation bias)—I’ll nonetheless concede that it’s a legit argument & if we had some magical way to find out with certainty which assessment was correct, I suppose I would be surprised but certainly not shocked if it turned out I was wrong on that specific point. Yet, even if you were to rank Fox & Hield top two, I can’t see any reasonable case for players other than Bjelica & Holmes rounding out the Kings’ top four over the past two seasons.
Yet, after those guys, there’s a BIG drop off. And Bagley clearly hurts the team. On/off can be volatile in small samples, but you won’t find many (if any) players at -5 over two seasons who have a good argument that they’re actually helping their teams.
IMO the biggest question in SAC is why the Kings insist on playing both Barnes, a mediocre starter, and Bagley, obviously a negative-impact player, significant minutes that directly take away from playing time for their two most effective—(or two of their top four, anyway)—players & drag down the entire team as a result…
And this analysis isn’t ONLY based on on/off; it’s also backed up plenty well enough by standard box-score stats adjusted for minutes played. The per-36 minute averages for Bjelica & Holmes also clearly reflect their contributions. Over the last two seasons, Bjelica’s per 36 stats were 15-9-3-1-1 on 48-41-79 shooting. Last year, Holmes’s per 36 stats were 16-10-1-1-2 on 65-n/a-79 shooting. Those might not be spectacular numbers, but notice just how solid they are across the board—those are the sorts of numbers you love to see from your 3rd and 4th scoring options—(Hield & Fox are obviously the first two scoring options on the Kings)—as they indicate smart, well-rounded, efficient play by team-first players who don’t force things & find multiple ways to help their team win.
Maybe that n/a in Holmes’ percentages, indicating he doesn’t attempt threes, could possibly be cited as a reason to limit his minutes in certain lineups where spreading the court is deemed extra-important… but I don’t think I would really buy that line of reasoning either—after all, the Kings best players besides Holmes are mostly good to excellent shooters… in other words, the Kings have a perfect situation to give Holmes significant minutes & get the most out of him, with Hield’s & Bjelica’s elite shooting stretching the court quite a bit (and most other rotation players at least serviceable from deep).
So imo the big question here is definitely NOT why Bagley isn’t playing more… it’s both why he plays as much as he has & perhaps even more so, why Barnes plays SO much & both do so at the expense of MUCH better players & better fits. And this is in a context where imo simply playing the team’s four best players (Fox & Hield PLUS Bjelica & Holmes) consistent starter minutes—(say 32 to 34 mpg)—would very likely improve the Kings from a 35-to-40 win low-lotto team to a playoff team with an above .500 record.
In today’s world, with analytics & synergy tracking stats—(which, just for good measure, also demonstrated Bjelica was among the best players in the league at defending the pick man on pick and rolls when I looked over the Kings tracking stats a while back)—the real question is how a NBA team continues to make such obvious player-evaluation mistakes.
From listening to interviews with Walton, he comes across as if he’s basically oblivious to this stuff. And if that’s really the case, the Kings do probably need a coaching change… but certainly not for Bagley’s sake.
As terrible as the Kings, Clips and Warriors have drafted (I’m 70, still remember Chris Washburn and Dunleavy Jr. as picks #3 for W’s, and passing up Larry Bird), no team beats Portland,passing on Jordan and Durant who each went with the very next pick.