‘Let me rock out’: Bagley asks Walton to defy minutes restriction in Kings’ loss to Bulls
Kings forward Marvin Bagley III knew he had a minutes restriction and suspected his time was up, so he went to coach Luke Walton with a request.
“He was about to take me out,” Bagley said. “I just told him, ‘I’m good. Let me rock out. Let me finish the rest of this game. Let me play.’ I wanted to be out there. I wanted to get this win bad, and I just let him know. He trusted me and let me go.”
The Kings didn’t get the win in a 122-114 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night at the United Center in Chicago — their sixth loss in a row — but maybe they gained something greater in the grand scheme of things. Bagley didn’t just want to be on the floor in the fourth quarter. He demanded it. He commanded it. He deserved it.
Bagley put up 26 points and 11 rebounds in a season-high 35 minutes, his eighth double-double of the season. He made 10 of 19 from the field and knocked down one of his two 3-point attempts. He had two assists and two steals, took a charge, got to the free-throw line five times and made them all after shooting 54.2% from the stripe over the first 27 games. Bagley moved between the power forward and center positions with equal acumen, showing awareness and good judgment at both ends of the floor.
“Marvin was great tonight,” Walton said. “The progress he continues to make, I’m really impressed with on both ends of the court. He took another charge. He leads our team in charges. Like all of us, he’s got a long way to go, but we played him at five tonight. He played a lot of minutes at the five tonight, which is a much more challenging position from the defensive end. I thought he navigated that pretty well.”
Bagley, who came out of Duke as the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, is making up for lost time after appearing in only 13 games last season because of injuries. He has remained fairly healthy this season, but he recently missed games against the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies due to left calf soreness.
When Bagley described the injury, he called it “soreness in my lower calf, Achilles area.” The team’s medical staff placed Bagley on a minutes restriction when he returned to the lineup in a 136-125 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. Bagley was limited to 21 minutes against the Nets and 24 minutes in Thursday’s 118-110 loss to the Miami Heat.
On Saturday night, with Bagley balling out and with Harrison Barnes and Richaun Holmes still out of the lineup, Walton chose to let Bagley stay in the game.
“Yeah, I went over the minutes restriction, but I asked him how he was feeling. He said he was feeling great,” Walton said. “When we’re out there, and we’ve got a certain group that’s competing that hard, and if a player tells me he feels good, I’m going to trust that player. He was very good from start to finish.”
Bagley said he sees his game growing.
“I’m just staying with it,” Bagley said. “There’s highs and lows in this game. You go through certain things that you don’t expect to go through. You just keep fighting and get through those things. I’m at that point. I’ve always been a fighter. I fight through this and give all the glory to God.”
His teammates can see it, too.
“He’s continuing to grow both offensively and defensively and that’s what you like to see,” Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox said. “Obviously, you want to win while seeing the growth, but that’s a positive.”
The Kings didn’t get the win, but they might have gained something more meaningful if they can bring out the best in Bagley.
“I think he’s attacking rebounds much more aggressively,” Walton said. “I think he’s attacking the rim much more aggressively and it’s part of the process for a young player. It’s a big, strong league, and once you feel you can hold your own and push people around as well, it gets a little easier and a little more fun.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2021 at 1:50 PM.
