With the results of the NBA Rookie of the Year (ROY) Award now out in the open, did Marvin Bagley III get disrespected by the voting committee?
The Sacramento Kings were a pleasant surprise in the NBA last season due to their rise of young talent and electric offense. One of the main reasons for the Kings’ improvement was the stunning play of Marvin Bagley III.
Back in the 2018 draft, the purple and white took a chance on Bagley with the second pick overall. It has only been one season, but Bagley has shown in the 62 games he has played that he has the potential to become a star in the league one day.
ROY Results Are Out!
Although Bagley did have a great rookie campaign with Sacramento, it was not enough for him to be this year’s top rookie. It was understandable, however. There were guys like Luka Doncic, Deandre Ayton, and others that took the league by storm with their play.
But even though it was expected that Bagley would not win the award, it was shocking to see him ranked seventh place by the voting committee. To see the specifics of the results, scroll down below.
Marvin Bagley III finished seventh in Rookie of the Year voting pic.twitter.com/0kPrggFxFY
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) June 25, 2019
Did Bagley Get Disrespected?
With Bagley being ranked seventh in the ROY voting, did he really get disrespected by the NBA media?
To me, I do not think so just because of how the voting works. The top candidates that were going to get the majority of the votes were going to be Doncic, Trae Young, and Ayton for the top three spots. So Bagley was not going to get many votes anyway.
With that being said, Bagley was able to get some third-place votes, but guys like Jaren Jackson Jr., Collin Sexton, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got votes as well which put them on top of Bagley in the final results.
It does not mean that the majority of voters thought Bagley was really the seventh-best rookie this year, but rather that he did not break their list of top three. Bagley did get named to the All-Rookie First Team, so obviously the media thought he was one of the top rookies in the class.
Final Thoughts
Even though Bagley being ranked seventh in the ROY voting seems disrespectful, I would not take too much stock into it. Bottom line, Bagley showed this season that he has superstar potential and looks to play a pivotal part in the Kings’ current rebuild.
If Marvin continues to make strides similar to his rookie season, he and the Kings will be one of the better NBA teams in no time.