Duke basketball: NBA Blue Devil appears to defy coach

Duke basketball alum Marvin Bagley III seems all but fed up with the Kings.

The Sacramento Kings haven’t been all that secretive the past year in seeking trades for Marvin Bagley III. But the Duke basketball product, who now-infamously went No. 2 overall and one spot ahead of Luka Doncic at the 2018 NBA Draft, remains on the bench and in uniform despite playing in only one contest throughout the team’s 5-7 start to its 2021-22 campaign.

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Bagley’s single appearance came during the Kings’ second outing. He tallied two points and four rebounds across 10 minutes against the Utah Jazz in that game. That was only days after his agent, Jeff Schwartz, blasted the franchise for mishandling the 6-foot-11 big man, who has averaged 14.4 points and 7.5 boards for his career yet has essentially faced ostracism as of late.

Former Duke basketball one-and-done calling it quits with the Kings?

Now, it looks as if Marvin Bagley III may be outright rejecting coaches’ requests to enter games. Here’s what Sean Cunningham of ABC10 in Sacramento reported via tweet this week about the 22-year-old’s apparent ‘no thanks’ reply to Kings head honcho Luke Walton during a 109-104 home loss to the Phoenix Suns on Monday night:

“Multiple sources told me that Marvin Bagley III refused to check into [the game] when Luke Walton called upon him in the second half vs. the Suns.”

Before Sacramento’s 136-117 road loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, Cunningham asked Walton about Monday’s incident, which on video shows Bagley shaking his head during a timeout and then finding a seat toward the end of the bench.

The 41-year-old Walton effectively dodged the question with this response:

“Marvin and I are constantly in communication. And today was about San Antonio. Today was a very good shootaround, and we’re going into tonight. He and everyone else knows we need everyone this year, and everyone has to be ready.”

From the looks of it, the only thing Marvin Bagley may be ready for is to play somewhere else.