NBA Rumors: Marvin Bagley’s Father Tweets & Deletes Request For Kings To Trade His Son
Former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III has incurred a handful of setbacks during his first two-plus years in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings. In response, his father used his social media on Saturday to express a desire for his son to get a fresh start with a new team.
As reported by NBC Sports Bay Area, Marvin Bagley, Jr. tweeted a request following the Kings’ 102-94 loss to the Houston Rockets that the 6-foot-11 power forward be traded. The tweet was deleted shortly thereafter, but several screenshots had already been captured.
“@SacramentoKings PLEASE trade Marvin Bagley III ASAP!” he wrote.
“Love – Coach Bagley.”
It wasn’t the first time he had indicated a level of disapproval regarding his son’s playing time and/or role with the team on the platform. As recently as Tuesday, he intimated that Kings coach Luke Walton was mistreating the 21-year-old in another tweet.
The younger Bagley played 25 minutes in the game against the Rockets, scoring 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting and adding nine rebounds and two assists. After the defeat, which dropped the Kings to 3-3 on the season, Walton was asked about the social media post, which he maintained should not serve as a distraction from the team’s goals.
“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. Like I always say, good or bad, we’ve got to do everything we can to not let that affect what we’re trying to get done here.”
Bagley had been considered a potential star and one of the prizes of the vaunted 2018 NBA draft class following a standout freshman season with the Duke Blue Devils. In his lone year in Durham, the big man earned ACC Player of the Year honors and was a consensus first-team All-American. Consequently, he was drafted ahead of future NBA All-Stars Luka Doncic and Trae Young.
It was Sacramento’s hope that he could blossom into a cornerstone player next to high-scoring guard De’Aaron Fox, whom the organization had drafted the previous year. And during his rookie campaign, he appeared to be well on his way to making it happen. As tracked by Basketball-Reference, Bagley averaged nearly 15 points and eight rebounds per contest as a first-year player.
However, he was limited to just 13 games in 2019-20 due to a myriad of factors, including a right thumb fracture, a right foot sprain and the monthslong suspension of play due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through six games in ’20-21, Bagley has consistently been the Kings’ starting power forward, but he is currently averaging less than 12 points per contest.
As relayed previously by The Inquisitr, Brad Dressler of Fansided’s Daily Knicks suggested that Bagley would be better-suited playing the center position in Sacramento.
