Duke basketball product could be part of a Ben Simmons trade

A Duke basketball name is popping up in a potential high-profile NBA trade.

On Wednesday, Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee detailed the ongoing trade chatter between the Sacramento Kings and Philadelphia 76ers. Indeed, Ben Simmons is at the center of the talks. And for the Sixers to end up shipping their former No. 1 overall draft pick to Sactown, it seems the Kings would likely need to include their lone former Duke basketball player in a deal.

That Blue Devil is 2017-18 one-and-done Marvin Bagley III, who went No. 2 overall at the 2018 NBA Draft after raking in ACC Player of the Year honors and helping Duke come within inches of a Final Four appearance.

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According to one of Anderson’s unnamed league sources, the Kings might be hoping to acquire Simmons’ services by offering up Bagley in addition to Buddy Hield and three future first-round picks.

Time for the Duke basketball product to experience a change of scenery

Injuries have piled up, to say the least. As a result, Marvin Bagley III has played in only about half of the Sacramento Kings’ games across his three seasons as a pro.

Remember, though, his first year out of Duke was quite promising. Bagley landed on the All-Rookie First Team after putting up 14.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks per game.

Yet even though the NBA Blue Devil has never averaged less than 14 points, his growth has been stagnant from one year to the next. Also, Bagley’s 62 appearances in 2018-19 still easily stand as his career-high for a season.

And in January, by way of Twitter, Bagley’s father practically begged the Kings to trade his son.

Then in June, following Sacramento’s 15th consecutive losing campaign, the 6-foot-11, 235-pound power forward himself liked a tweet that called for his departure from the franchise that drafted him. Around the same time, Bagley deleted any mention of the Kings from his social media bios.

Now, whether the mere 22-year-old becomes a part of the Ben Simmons trade this offseason or heads elsewhere in some other deal, the consensus appears to be that Marvin Bagley III has probably played his last game as a member of the Sacramento Kings.