Report: Pistons reject Kings’ offer to trade Marvin Bagley III for rookie Saddiq Bey
Marvin Bagley III’s father set off a social media firestorm in January when he took to Twitter to ask the Kings to trade his son. With Thursday’s NBA trade deadline fast approaching, the Kings are apparently trying to accommodate that request.
Sources told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports the Detroit Pistons turned down a proposed trade that would have sent Bagley to Detroit in exchange for Saddiq Bey, a promising rookie from Villanova.
Bey, 21, is a 6-foot-7, 215-pound small forward who was selected with the No. 19 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Bey has appeared in 40 games for the Pistons, including 23 starts. He is averaging 10.5 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 38.6% from 3-point range. He has also been described as a heady, versatile defender, traits the Kings will value as they retool the roster under first-year general manager Monte McNair.
The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported Monday the Kings also offered Bagley to the Atlanta Hawks in talks around John Collins, a talented 23-year-old power forward who will be a restricted free agent this summer.
Bagley, who came out of Duke as the No. 2 pick in the 2018 draft, averaged 13.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in 37 games before breaking his left hand in a 122-116 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on March 15. He is expected to miss a minimum of four weeks after being limited to 13 games due to various injuries last season.
The Kings moved Bagley into the starting lineup this season as the organization prioritized his development. Still, his father continued to express frustration with coach Luke Walton, particularly during a stretch when Bagley was not playing in the fourth quarter.
“@SacramentoKings PLEASE trade Marvin Bagley III ASAP!” he wrote, signing the tweet “Love - Coach Bagley.”
Bagley sidestepped questions about his father’s public trade request during a Zoom session with reporters the next day, 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 was particularly indirect when asked if he wanted to dispel the notion that he would like to be traded.
“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 made significant strides over the past couple of months. He shot 40.5% from 3-point range in January and 38.2% in February while averaging nearly 15.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
Earlier this month, before he suffered a left fourth metacarpal fracture, Bagley was asked if the recent growth in his game helped him envision his fit in a long-term plan with other young players such as De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. That question didn’t exactly capture Bagley’s imagination.
“I’m taking it one day at a time, man. It’s kind of hard to look at the future,” Bagley said. “You don’t know what can happen in the future. When I step on the court with this group of guys that we have now, I try to do my best and just give it everything I have so we can try to win. That’s my goal every time I step out there and every time I put this uniform on, so I just leave the future to God and I just take it day by day and pray that I make it to the next day, and when I do, I thank God and the cycle continues.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 12:11 PM.
