Prior to the start of the start of the 2021-22 National Basketball Association season, there is tension in Sacramento. That is because agent Jeff Schwartz is verbally upset that the Kings have held out power forward Marvin Bagley III of Tempe, Arizona from the rotation.
At first I thought Schwartz was just upset that Bagley III was not part of the starting rotation. However, after the Kings’ 124-121 upset win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night, Bagley III did not see one minute of playing time at all.
According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, Schwartz stated the following. “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.”
The Kings went with a starting five of Harrison Barnes, Maurice Harkless, Richaun Holmes, De’Aaron Fox, and Tyrese Haliburton, with their quartet of Buddy Hield, Davion Mitchell, Tristan Thompson and Terence Davis coming off the bench. The Kings player that deserves to be in the starting rotation the most is Hield, who had an excellent 2020-21 NBA regular season.
In 2020-21, Bagley III averaged 14.1 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game. He only played in 42 games however because of a broken hand. There were high hopes for Bagley when he started in the NBA as he was Sacramento’s first round pick, second overall, out of Duke, in the 2018 draft.
For FREE!
