There are plenty of question marks surrounding Marvin Bagley, but there are things that he can improve to be the star that the Sacramento Kings envisioned.
The 2019-20 Sacramento Kings season was one that Marvin Bagley would probably like to erase from his memory.
While Bagley’s 2018 NBA Draft counterpart Luka Doncic was in the midst of lighting up the NBA and leading his team to the playoffs at the ripe age of 20, Bagley sat idle. While Doncic started in the All-Star game for Team LeBron, Bagley struggled to string together more than a handful of games before landing back on the injury report.
Even some of the non-Luka picks from the 2018 class made big waves in their second season. Jaren Jackson Jr. and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played vital roles on teams that were set to make the playoffs before the season was suspended. Guys like Trae Young and Deandre Ayton made clear improvements to their game and overall numbers, albeit on bad teams.
Bagley, on the other hand, played just 13 of a possible 64 games. His extended absence was due both to a thumb fracture that he suffered on opening night in a loss against Phoenix, and a nagging foot injury that he first suffered in December against Minnesota, which he later re-injured.
In the 13 games that Bagley did play, he seemed to be largely the same player he was as a rookie, with a lot of the same weaknesses in his game.
Despite all of this, I still believe that it is far too early to write off Bagley’s potential to become a star. Even though he will almost certainly never reach the heights of Doncic, Bagley still has elite traits that are rare for a big man.
With that being said, there are still several things in Bagley’s game that are stopping him from reaching that level. Here are the four parts of Bagley’s game that he will have to improve if he ever wants to reach the potential that the Kings’ front office saw in him to take him No. 2 overall.