The Sacramento Kings seemed well within their rights to select Marvin Bagley III with the second overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. After all, Bagley had established himself as one of the elite talents in the nation throughout the course of a spectacular freshman season at Duke University.
But there always seems to be a catch with the Kings.
Sacramento might have been more likely to select Luka Doncic with the second pick given general manager Vlade Divac's connection to Europe, but they did not do so because of alleged dislike between Divac and Doncic's father (via Kurt Helin of NBC Sports):
The Kings are harder to pin down, Vlade Divac is well connected in Europe and had seen Doncic. So why pass? Tim MacMahon of ESPN told this story on The Woj Pod about Doncic (hat tip to Jesse Reed of Sportsnaut).
“My understanding is that [Divac] being so close to Luka and knowing his dad so well factored into their decision. Basically, he didn’t think a whole lot of Luka’s dad, and the whole like father like son … well … no, this is a different dude. You messed that one up, Vlade.”
Divac has already had plenty of brushes with controversy. In fact, his initial hiring in 2015 was questioned by fans and rival executives alike.
The former Kings star center also fired former head coach Dave Joerger after Joerger led the Kings to their best record since 2006 last season. Divac replaced Joerger with Luke Walton, who had just come out of a mess of a season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Rumored hostilities aside, the Kings probably feel a pang of remorse watching Doncic develop into an NBA MVP candidate in just his second season while Bagley remains sidelined due to injru.
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