Kings coach Luke Walton addresses report Marvin Bagley III refused to enter game vs. Suns
Kings coach Luke Walton avoided questions about Marvin Bagley III on Wednesday after the 22-year-old power forward apparently refused to play in Monday’s 109-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns at Golden 1 Center.
Multiple sources told ABC10’s Sean Cunningham that Bagley refused to go into the game when called upon Monday. Cunningham asked Walton if he could clarify the situation during his pregame news conference prior to Wednesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs.
“Our guys all know this is what is expected out of us as a group, and we, Marvin and I, are constantly in communication,” Walton said. “Today was about San Antonio and today was a very good shootaround, and we’re going into tonight, but he and everyone else knows we need everyone this year and everyone has to be ready.”
Walton sidestepped a subsequent question from The Sacramento Bee when asked directly if Bagley had refused to enter the game.
“Anything that happens within our group, that’s between our group, so the thing that matters is people know what’s expected and we continue to move forward tonight,” Walton said. “We’ve got a very tough matchup against San Antonio and they’re coming off a couple of days rest, and we’re at the beginning of a road trip, so this is a big game for us and we’re excited about that opportunity.”
Bagley, who came out of Duke as the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NBA draft, has appeared in only one game this season. He had two points and four rebounds in 10 minutes against the Utah Jazz on Oct. 22.
Jeff Schwartz, Bagley’s agent at Excel Sports Management, blasted the organization on the eve of the season opener, a day after the Kings let the deadline pass without offering Bagley a rookie-scale contract extension.
“Sacramento has informed Marvin Bagley he is not in the opening night rotation, which is completely baffling,” Schwartz said. “It’s clear they have no plans for him in the future, and yet, passed on potential deals at last year’s deadline and this summer based on ‘value.’ Instead, they chose to bring him back but not play him, a move completely contradictory to their ‘value’ argument. This is a case study in mismanagement by the Kings organization.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 5:19 PM.
