Kings mailbag: Why did Vlade Divac draft Marvin Bagley III over Luka Doncic?
The buildup to the 2018 NBA Draft was unlike anything we’ve ever seen in Sacramento. The Kings defied the odds in the draft lottery to seize on their 0.6-percent chance of securing the No. 2 pick, setting off five weeks of hype, hysteria and handwringing in the Capital City.
Some of us watched many, many hours of film on the top prospects, knowing the Kings could transform their long-suffering franchise with this gift from the basketball gods. Thousands showed up for the Golden 1 Center watch party on the day of the draft. This was a couple of months before The Sacramento Bee hired me to cover the Kings, so I was sitting in the lower bowl drinking a $14 beer when general manager Vlade Divac chose Marvin Bagley III over Luka Doncic.
Some cheered. Some booed. One guy sitting in front of me got up and walked out, muttering to himself in disgust. This whole debate will come to a boil again this week as Doncic leads the Dallas Mavericks into Sacramento to play the Kings on Wednesday, so let’s argue about it in this week’s Kings mailbag.
@sdean23 asks: Do we know the true decision making process that led to the selection of Bagley over Luka? I am still very high on Bagley but what did Vlade see in his years of watching Luka play that gave him pause?
Allow me to present an alternative theory. Divac didn’t select Bagley over Doncic. He picked Bagley instead of Doncic.
The discussion changes if you consider Divac may have first determined he didn’t want to draft Doncic and then decided who he would draft instead. A number of factors could have influenced Divac’s decision. There were concerns about Doncic’s quickness and athleticism. Some were not enamored with his physique. At the time, Doncic was a 19-year-old kid with a flashy blue sports car and a to-do list that included dating Jennifer Aniston and buying a Tiger “like Mike Tyson.”
Remember that the Phoenix Suns — then led by Igor Kokoskov, who coached Doncic on the Slovenian national team — also passed on Doncic, selecting Deandre Ayton with the No. 1 pick instead. Here’s what Kokoskov, now an assistant coach with the Kings, said when Croatian news website Index asked why the Suns didn’t draft Doncic.
“Unfortunately, I cannot answer that question because of a professional code, but … I will tell you that I sleep peacefully and peaceably.”
It’s also worth noting the Kings had just drafted point guard De’Aaron Fox a year earlier. Some maintain Fox and Doncic could have coexisted, but the fact is Doncic has logged 77 percent of his minutes at point guard this season.
Divac has never publicly stated why he didn’t draft Doncic, but he has talked about why he drafted Bagley. On draft day, Divac described Bagley as “a guy who works hard, wants to improve, learn, coachable, good teammate, checks all the boxes of what we want.” Divac added: “Marvin, for us, is better fit, better player and great talent, so it was an easy choice for us.”
That assessment is not aging well. Doncic has emerged as an MVP candidate in his second season with the Mavericks, averaging 29.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.0 assists, all better than LeBron James in his second season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Doncic has appeared in 107 of 121 games over the past two seasons.
Bagley is averaging 13.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 0.7 assists in his second season with the Kings. His development has been slowed by an array of injuries. He missed 20 games as a rookie in 2018-19 due to back and knee injuries. He has missed 30 games this season with a broken thumb and a sprained foot.
Bagley is still regarded as a remarkable talent who is only scratching the surface of his potential. If he gets healthy and stays healthy, he will close the sizeable gap between himself and Doncic, but Divac’s decision will be debated forever in Sacramento.
@jbeasley123 asks: Why did Vlade pass on Euro LeBron for poor man’s Chris Bosh?
I’ll refer you to the above response, but let’s also remember that Bosh was an 11-time All-Star who averaged 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds over 13 seasons. The Kings would take that right now.
@SacKingsBooster asks: Why is Trevor Ariza playing 30+ minutes a night?
Ariza has logged 30-plus minutes eight times this season, including each of past four games, but on the season he is eighth on the team in minutes at 24.8 per game. You can attribute the recent uptick to injuries to Bagley, Bogdan Bogdanovic and now Richaun Holmes.
Ariza, 34, is in his 16th NBA season. He’s averaging 6.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals. He’s third on the team in defensive field-goal percentage (.401) and third in 3-point shooting (.368). He’s also one of the few players on the team whose offensive rating (109) isn’t worse than his defensive rating (109).
Ariza isn’t the full-time lockdown defender he used to be, but, like Cory Joseph, he still possesses the defensive know-how to lock in during key sequences.
@Kellen_Browning asks: Would Dedmon be OK staying if he continues to get this level of (playing time)? And will he when Richaun comes back?
Kings center Dewayne Dedmon has requested a trade after being told he was no longer in the team’s rotation. Coach Luke Walton recently brought Dedmon back into the rotation behind Harry Giles III after Richaun Holmes suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him out for at least the next couple of weeks.
Dedmon demonstrated he can still help this team when he came off the bench to post a double-double in last week’s win over the Phoenix Suns. We’ve also noted that he endured similar shooting struggles with the Atlanta Hawks last season before catching fire to shoot 42.7 percent from 3-point range over the last 54 games.
Is there a chance for reconciliation? I don’t know. Dedmon declined to answer that question when I asked him about it after practice last week.
Kings upcoming schedule
Jan. 15 vs. Dallas Mavericks, 7 p.m.
Jan. 18 at Utah, 6 p.m.
Jan. 20 at Miami, 2 p.m.
Jan. 22 at Detroit, 4 p.m.
Jan. 24 at Chicago, 5 p.m.
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
