The Mavericks’ guard opened up about his draft experience with Sacramento and … look away Kings fans.
It’s been almost five weeks since the Sacramento Kings traded Marvin Bagley III to the Detroit Pistons, thus ending the saga of Kings fans being forever reminded that in 2018, the front office passed on Luka Doncic, who’s now a three-time All-Star.
In a recent interview on “Old Man and the Three,” a podcast co-hosted by 15-year NBA veteran JJ Redick, Doncic opened up about what the draft process was like and how it’s still perplexing that he isn’t wearing a Kings uniform.
Redick: Did you ever figure out why Sacramento didn’t take you?
Doncic: No. They said it’s because they had Fox, so they needed a big, which I get.
Now in their fourth season in the association, Doncic and Bagley’s respective trajectories have become drastically different. While Wonderboy remains the face of Dallas’ franchise, Bagley became an injured outcast who is now rehabbing his career in a budding Detroit. The sad part for Sacramento? It looks like he’s truly thriving in another environment
No one could have predicted that Bagley would have the roller coaster ride that he did while with the Kings: a family dynamic that clashed with the front office and an extremely hard time staying on the court. It was only months ago that then head coach Luke Walton informed Bagley he would no longer be in the rotation.
It’s laughable now that the Kings leaned completely into the three-guard lineup at the start of this season, and haven’t had much success in finding a three-and-D kind of player to fill in where Bagley was supposed to thrive since his entrance to the team.
Luka’s insight could be further fleshed out in years to come. Is there more to the story? Probably. But it still stings knowing that we passed on a generational talent. Again.