‘Don’t ask’: Kings forward Marvin Bagley III won’t say if he wants to be traded or not
Kings forward Marvin Bagley III addressed the media Sunday, but he wouldn’t say if he wants to be traded or not a day after his father set off a firestorm on social media.
Bagley sidestepped questions about his father’s public trade request during a Zoom session with reporters, making it clear he didn’t want to discuss the controversy.
“Before we start, I just want to say if there are no questions about the game tomorrow or what we’re going to do tomorrow, please don’t ask,” Bagley said. “I don’t want to give any answers or information on nothing, so if you don’t have any questions about the team and tomorrow’s game, just hold off on those.”
Bagley has started all six games for the Kings (3-3), but he found himself on the bench in the fourth quarter in recent games against the Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets. He has shined at times and struggled at others, averaging 11.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 37.5% from the field and 30.7% from 3-point range.
Bagley talked about “controlling what I can control” and playing with “a chip on my shoulder,” but he avoided questions about his father’s latest tweet. He was particularly indirect when asked if he wanted to take the opportunity to dispel the notion that he wants to be traded, saying he’s only focused on Monday’s game against the Golden State Warriors.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a big game for us,” Bagley said. “I’m excited about that. Just excited to get on the court and play tomorrow.”
Bagley and the Kings find themselves in an uncomfortable position after Bagley’s father used Twitter to air more displeasure with the organization following Saturday’s 102-94 loss to the Rockets. He was brazen enough to tag the Kings in his post from the Team Bagley account.
“@SacramentoKings PLEASE trade Marvin Bagley III ASAP!” he wrote, signing the tweet “Love - Coach Bagley.”
The tweet was later deleted, but screenshots made the rounds on social media, generating national headlines. It was the second time in less than a week that Team Bagley blasted the Kings organization on Twitter.
“What since (sic) does it make to treat Marvin Bagley III this way?” Team Bagley tweeted after Bagley sat out the fourth quarter of a 125-115 victory over the Nuggets on Tuesday. “No worries, it will surely work out. #TEAMBAGLEY.”
Player development
The Kings are starting Bagley at power forward in hopes of accelerating his development in his third NBA season. Bagley has had some impressive moments already this season and the organization still believes he will be a great player, but he has made mistakes while trying to grasp team concepts at both ends of the floor.
Bagley averaged 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds in 62 games as a rookie in 2018-19, but he is making up for lost time after appearing in only 13 games due to injuries last season. The former Duke star has been subject to additional scrutiny because the Kings selected him over Luka Doncic with the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
Bagley was asked if he has developed any techniques since his rookie season to avoid outside noise and distractions.
“More of it is just not giving a damn what people say,” Bagley said. “People are going to say stuff all the time, but they’re not in my position, they’re not in my shoes every day, they don’t get to do the job that I do every single day. Just understanding that what people say don’t make or break me. At the end of the day, I’m the same person. I’ve still got the same goals I’ve had since I set them out for myself, and I’m just going after them, and all the other noise and all that extra stuff doesn’t even matter.”
Kings coach Luke Walton said Bagley is progressing after missing most of the 2019-20 season with thumb and foot injuries.
“I think he’s doing well,” Walton said. “I’ve told him I think there’s progress being made that we can see game to game, and just the understanding of what we need him to do, what the team needs him to do and then what he’s trying to do individually. I’m pleased with what he’s giving us and I’m pleased with, like I’ve said the whole time, he’s going to be a very good basketball player in this league, and it’s nice to have him. Again, it’s a very short amount of time we’ve had him, but it’s the longest that we’ve had him, so it’s nice to get this time together.”
Bagley believes he is improving, too.
“I feel like every game, I’m getting better,” he said. “Just getting back into the rhythm of things, it’s a process. I’m going through the process of figuring things out, especially how new things are around here, so like I said I’m just going to keep rolling. Whatever happens, I’m going to take it to the chin and keep my chest poked out, and come prepared, ready every day.”
Open discussions
Bagley was asked if he had spoken to Walton about his role with the team.
“Yeah, we’ve had conversations, but that’s not for y’all to know,” he said. “We have an open line of communication. I call him and talk about stuff. He calls me, so we have those conversations.”
Walton said he has open and honest conversations with all of his players, but he prefers to keep the details of those discussions private.
“I like keeping things within the group, so generally speaking, yeah, I have an open line of communication with Marvin and we’ve had very honest talks,” Walton said. “Things we talk about, I’ll keep between us, but throughout my time here we’ve had a lot of good talks, and about honest things, which is what I believe a coach and player should have. This is nothing different, nothing new, but with him and all the guys that I coach, I try to make that a high priority, and understanding that not everyone’s always going to be happy, but the communication will always be there and always available.”
Walton said sometimes that means having group discussions to address potential distractions.
“As a coach, my belief is never let a little thing turn into a big thing, so you don’t have to overreact too much, but you’ve got to address and communicate things out, just to make sure,” Walton said. “And normally a quick conversation is enough to keep the group moving. I just have to have a pulse on the whole thing to make sure that something that is out there isn’t affecting the group.”
Walton has seen this kind of drama before over the course of his NBA playing and coaching career. He witnessed the feud between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and encountered Lonzo Ball’s father, Lavar Ball, while coaching the Lakers.
“The good teams that I was a part of, other than probably my rookie year when Shaq and Kobe were on each other a little bit, but even then most of those good teams I was a part of as a player, we felt the responsibility of not letting any of that outside stuff get in and affect us,” Walton said.
“It would be verbalized. The only people who are really invested in this are us, so we would take it to that level of talking about it to make sure we kept things in house, to make sure we didn’t let whatever rumors, or anything else going on out there, distract us from what we were trying to be. Now, the teams I’ve played on that didn’t have that success would really let those type of things kind of seep in and not handle them, so from a player, there’s a responsibility to live up to that, which I think our guys have done a nice job of.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2021 at 5:52 PM.
