The Sacramento Kings have been one of the biggest surprises of the season. While their hopes of a postseason appearance this year appears to be all but gone, the Kings were still able to significantly outperform pre-season expectations.
However, as detailed by ESPN's Zach Lowe, it's not all sunshine and rainbows in Sacramento, with the rift between head coach Dave Joeger and team assistant general manager Brandon Williams — one that allegedly rooted from a disagreement surrounding rookie Marvin Bagley III — still far from settled.
That is a long way off. The Kings need to figure out things as basic as their core offensive style and who plays what position. Bagley and Barnes sit at the fulcrum of both debates. Bagley's playing time opened a well-publicized rift between Joerger and Williams that is still healing, sources say. Such divides have undone more accomplished franchises.
Nonetheless, in the Bagley debate, perhaps all's well that ends well. The former second overall pick has proven to be on of the best rookies of his class, and he has been pivotal in Sacramento's success this season.
The 19-year-old is currently putting up 14.7 points (on 51.9 percent shooting), 0.4 three-pointers, 7.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.0 blocks in 25.0 minutes per ballgame. He has been a steady contributor off the Kings bench, and has shown that he has what it takes to be a core member of the team moving forward.
The Kings have wisely tied up Bagley to a four-year deal, so Sacramento supporters will be seeing this guy night in and night out for years to come.
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