How BAD Is Marvin Bagley Actually?

Marvin Bagley was not so long ago one of the best highschool talents in history. After creating some of the greatest hoop tapes online, dominating the college level, and getting drafted before Luka Doncic, why is Marvin Bagley now seemingly forgotten about?

[WestCoastCheeseHead]

The thing about him is he hasn’t necessarily gotten worse he’s just been stagnant for the past 5 years he’s still stuck at his rookie year

[omarosman]

Kudos to the kings, they took a beating by drafting him over Luka, trading Tyrese and they still looking like a great team

[Igor]

Drafting this dude over Luka has to be one of the dumbest things a franchise did in a long time, Divac was a horrible GM. Glad to see Kings managed to overcome it and are actually good right now

[insanepolygon]

The similiarity between Bagley and Wiseman is almost uncanny. Both 2nd picks in the draft who just when they were playing well got derailed by injuries in their rookie season. Both are low basketball IQ bastketball players with elite athleticism that should have been better defensive players. And now they are both playing for Detroit after the teams that drafted them finally gave up on them. Sometimes the universe has a wicked sense of humor.

[firstlast]

His father definitely didn’t help matters. He demanded a trade on social media when his son was on the Kings. He got what he asked for, and was traded to the 17-65 Pistons. Meanwhile, the Kings became a playoff team and a championship contender.

[nickcarrasco]

As a Kings fan I’ve been waiting for this one. Injuries were a huge issue for him, could have been a lot better, but even an ultimate ceiling of Amare Stoudamire pales in comparison to Luka, and even then, we didn’t even get him to be a solid role player (but we did get Trey Lyles for him so who’s the real winner 😤)

[thuggwaffle]

Players like Bagley never really pan out. It’s like Jordan Bell and Derrick Williams. Their athleticism carry’s them through high school and college but just isn’t enough in the league

[issamelarmi]

Marvin is the best example of what is wrong with NBA scouts. They are out of touch with modern NBA game.
The game changes constantly but the scouting doesn't keep up

[jaywilson]

A lot of people like to trash the Kings for drafting Bagley over Luka. Obviously in hindsight, it will be remembered as one of the worst draft decisions in history, but I'm glad you pointed out that, at the time, this move made a lot of sense for Sacramento. If you think about it, this was their first attempt at creating the Sabonis/Fox duo that eventually led them to the 3rd seed. This was the safe and seemingly correct choice at the time. But this was all ruined due to injury, lack of basketball IQ, and what seemed like a unwillingness to work on his flaws.

[meinardsl]

This video details how his fall was almost predetermined. He was THE guy from age 13. There are maybe 4 or 5 of them at NBA level and Bagley's style of play is a bit of a weird fit in today's NBA because he's not strong enough to play the 5, he can't stretch the floor to play the 4, he's a black hole on offense and he's horrendous on defense. Then there's the NBA schedule and injuries. At this point his best bet is to be a budget Obi Toppin if he wants to stick around. If a big isn't elite at something to build his game around he's more than likely going to be a bust.

[RaferAlstonlol]

Shoutout to you for calling out the “YouTube clickbait” epidemic. I’m so sick of people piecing together a 2 minute highlight clip of a clear bust and saying they are “reviving” their career

[baxterbrown]

Not the worst player I've ever seen but still a massive bust for the #2 spot

[Imaf]

He's a bust compared to expectations. As a backup big - 14/7 isn't bad. If he had been a late first round pick, and not surrounded by all-stars in the lottery, we wouldn't be having this discussion. As the guy drafted before Luka? Ouch!

[DMalltheway]

Bagley is a 20 10 guy if he plays 35 minutes a game, but his defense is so bad it’s not worth the headache.

[barleymepodcast]

He’s always two steps slow on defense. In a league where half a step kills your entire defense, two steps is unrecoverable. I don’t even know how to fix that - because it’s awareness AND effort.

[jorgezavala]

People saying the Kings messed up picking him over Luka when he publicly said he didn’t want to play for Sacramento pre draft. Kings needed size not another guard to take the ball out of Foxs hands

[killgronia]

Wait wait wait, I thought he blamed all his struggles on the kings? His dad said once he leaves Sac he would blossom??? Ok, one more Jaden Ivey did not want to come to Sac because of our losing culture, as the pistons now sit at 23 straight losses 😬

[lmchankins]

Bagley shows there's more to being a good ball player than jumping high and being "springy." AAU ball is ruining young prospects by focusing on highlight ball instead of fundamentals. Don't get me wrong, I love a strong, thundering dunk but if that's all you can really do, then you're extremely limited

[Ryan_j]

He just got traded I'm still holding the faith on him

[rhgamecock]

I think there have been a lot of players over the years that just wanted to be Drafted and get a Bonus and an NBA contract and that was enough for them. Meaning they weren't motivated to be great. Bagley seems to be one of those guys.