Foot injury will sideline Kings forward Marvin Bagley III for remainder of NBA season
Kings forward Marvin Bagley III will miss the rest of the season after suffering a foot injury during Sunday’s practice.
The team issued a statement Tuesday announcing Bagley suffered a lateral sprain to his right foot. A foot specialist confirmed the diagnosis after evaluating Bagley’s MRI results.
“The team has decided to hold (Bagley) out for the remainder of the season,” the Kings said. “He is expected to make a full recovery.”
Kings coach Luke Walton said Bagley sustained the injury when he jumped for an offensive rebound and landed on another player’s foot during Sunday’s practice. Video from inside the NBA bubble in Orlando showed Bagley leaving Tuesday’s morning practice on crutches with a walking boot on his right foot, but Walton said he didn’t have an update on Bagley’s MRI results at that time.
“The films have been sent out,” Walton said. “We’re waiting to kind of get some more information back from that. Being in the bubble is always a little different. I don’t know how the protocols work. We’ve got a lot going on, so I just trust in the process that’s happening. When I get the information, I’ll share it with you guys.”
This represents the latest setback for a player who has appeared in only 75 games over two seasons since the Kings selected him with the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft following his freshman year at Duke. His second season has been especially difficult for the 21-year-old big man.
Bagley missed 22 games after breaking his thumb in the season opener against the Phoenix Suns in October. His return to action lasted only eight games before he suffered a left midfoot sprain that caused him to miss 29 of the last 33 games before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Bagley worked hard during the shutdown to prepare himself for the remainder of the season, packing on 10 pounds of muscle in anticipation of playing the center position. Coaches and teammates said he was one of the standouts over the first few days of training camp in Orlando.
Jabari Parker, another former No. 2 pick who has missed 191 games over six NBA seasons, said “injuries are a part of life” and “it’s normal.”
“I’m just trying to keep him on my mind and keep him in my prayers, and just try to be a good friend for him,” Parker said.
Walton said he is encouraging Bagley to remain positive despite the latest setback.
“He was a little frustrated obviously,” Walton said earlier this week. “He was another guy that was having a good camp and he looked great. He was flying up and down the court. Whether it’s him or anybody, when you put in the kind of time to make it at this level and you really want to show what you can do, injuries can be a very frustrating part of the game. But he knows, and we talked about, no matter what the result is, no matter what comes of this, mentally, stay strong and keep working. He’s going to have a very successful career when it’s all said and done.”
Bagley averaged 14.2 points and 7.5 rebounds for the Kings this season. He averaged 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds in 62 games as a rookie in 2018-19.
Walton said he spoke to Bagley after he went down with the injury Sunday.
“It was mainly just to check in and make sure that he knows that we’re behind him and we’ve got to be positive in how we attack this,” Walton said. “That was kind of the general theme of it. Marvin’s had to go through injuries before and he’s handled them great, so hopefully it’s not too bad, but we’ll hear back and find that out, and the important thing is, no matter what the news is, that we attack it together and we’re positive about what we’re trying to build with him and with the group.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 5:57 PM.
