His minutes may be limited, but the Kings’ Marvin Bagley is making the most of it

The Kings will continue to work Marvin Bagley III back into their rotation, but they won’t force the issue.

The rookie big played 20 minutes in the Kings’ 123-114 loss to the 76ers on Friday in Philadelphia.

“It broke my heart to take him out of the game tonight, but I’m going to side with our strength and conditioning crew and our athletic trainers,” coach Dave Joerger said after the game. “He’s on a minutes restriction. That’s part of the NBA game.”

Asked about that restriction before Sunday’s home game against the Chicago Bulls, Joerger said it’s not changing “right now or in the next couple of games,” but, “hopefully, it will continue to increase.”

Bagley played 21 minutes and led the Kings in points (21) and rebounds (nine) in a 129-102 victory over the Bulls that snapped a three-game skid.

“We’ve just got to lock in and do that every game,” Bagley said of how the team played. The Kings scored a season-high 80 points in the paint and had 28 assists while shooting 52.4 percent. “This was a must-win for us.”

Bagley returned Thursday after missing five games with a sprained left knee. He suffered the injury — his second this season on the knee — in an overtime home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 27.

He played in the last two games of the Kings’ four-game East Coast trip, logging 19 minutes against the Boston Celtics and 20 against the 76ers. He scored 14 and 15 in those contests.

Bagley, the No. 2 pick in last year’s NBA draft, is averaging 13.9 points and 7.1 rebounds in 49 games.

This story was originally published March 17, 2019 at 3:27 PM.