Marvin Bagley III’s agent calls Kings’ handling of No. 2 pick ‘baffling’ after forward is left out of rotation

While several members of the 2018 NBA Draft class signed hefty contract extensions this summer, one notable name left out of the fun was Sacramento Kings forward Marvin Bagley III It wasn’t a terribly surprising omission, as Bagley has struggled to live up to his No. 2 draft selection, especially when guys like Luka Doncic and Trae Young were taken after him.

However, Bagley’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, has some strong opinions on his situation in Sacramento.

“Sacramento has informed Marvin Bagley he is not in the opening night rotation, which is completely baffling. It’s clear they have no plans for him in the future, and yet, passed on potential deals at last year’s deadline and this summer based on “value.” Instead, they chose to bring him back but not play him, a move completely contradictory to their “value” argument. This is a case study in mismanagement by the Kings organization.”

Those are some fiery words from Bagley’s agent and could become quite the headache to deal with for the Kings. Bagley will enter restricted free agency this summer after not agreeing to a rookie scale extension, and given Schwartz’s claim that Bagley isn’t in the Kings’ rotation to start the season, it appears unlikely he’ll be brought back for next season. 

When Bagley’s been healthy, he’s put up respectable numbers, with career averages of 14.5 points and 7.4 rebounds. However, his ability to stay healthy has been the sticking point in his career thus far, after playing in just 13 games in his sophomore season due to various injuries, and missing a chunk of last season with a broken hand. He was expected to be fully healthy entering this season, and there was no reason to expect him to not be in the rotation given that he started 42 of 43 games last season, and has averaged 25.5 minutes over three season. 

But Schwartz’s surprising comments suggest that Sacramento plans on focusing its efforts on Tristan Thompson, Richaun Holmes — who the Kings signed to a new deal this summer — and roll with Alex Len and Damian Jones as backups in the frontcourt. Aside from Holmes, Bagley gives you far more production on the offensive side of the ball, but he is detrimental on defense, which could be the reason for him reportedly not being in the rotation. 

We’ll have to see how this plays out between the Kings and Bagley as the season begins, but as of right now it appears as though Bagley is on the outside looking in at Sacramento’s rotation.