Marvin Bagley III could be the next breakout star for the Sacramento Kings

Coming off an impressive debut season, Sacramento Kings sophomore Marvin Bagley III could be in line to take a big leap as the team’s next breakout star.

When the Sacramento Kings opted to draft Marvin Bagley III over Luka Doncic and Jaren Jackson Jr. with the second pick in the 2018 draft, it wasn’t very well-received. But now, after an incredibly promising rookie year, Bagley appears destined for stardom.

It’s not often the Sacramento Kings have drafted the right player, and though you could argue Bagley was still the wrong choice—some still will—it seems clear he wasn’t the wrong choice.

In his rookie year, he averaged just 14.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, one assist and a block per game. Nothing eye-popping, but following the All-Star Break, the thought of Bagley becoming a star seeming less like wishful thinking and more like Vlade Divac secured his job for the next half-decade.

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And all you need to do is look at the games in which Bagley got significant plying time, something he didn’t see regularly until mid-season.

In nearly 28 minutes per night post-ASB, Bagley poured in 18.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists on 48.7/39.0/70.2 shooting. In four starts, he averaged 20 points, 11.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.5 blocks on 47.1/25.0/76.5.

And while the counting stats don’t show the whole story, they get you a pretty good baseline to build from. One of the bigger reasons for Bagley’s success is his fit with this roster; after all, that’s why the Sacramento Kings drafted him.

As Sactown Royalty’s Sanjesh Singh pointed out on Twitter, Bagley’s not just limited to his offensive potential, defensively he plays at an incredibly high-speed, which allows to Kings to switch more.

Bagley was seventh in the league in average defensive speed, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a good defender, it makes him much more likely to be in the right position—giving him an opportunity to make the play another player might not have.

Bagley’s ability to shoot a respectable clip from outside also lends credence to the idea he could become a star. It’s no secret the NBA values shooting, and Bagley (at some point) being able to develop his game as an adequate scorer at all three levels would place him among the games most offensively versatile bigs.

After the 2018 draft, The Ringer’s Jonathan Tjarks penned a story essentially saying Bagley’s shooting was key to unlocking his stardom. In his article, Tjarks mentions the Bagley’s lackluster defensive presence, and says:

"“A poor outside shot is not a death sentence for a big man if he can protect the rim. The hard part about building around players like Bagley and (Julius) Randle is they can’t do either.”"

We’re not even one year removed from that writing and yet Bagley has already showed an ability to hit the three at a respectable rate, on top of that, he’s also shown flashes of defensive promise, though he’ll likely never be an All-Defense Team caliber player.

Either way, Bagley has all the tools to become a star in today’s NBA. And if he follows the same path he appeared to be on at the close of last season, it won’t be long before the rest of the league catches on.