Sacramento Kings: Marvin Bagley must earn his stripes to get fourth quarter minutes

Marvin Bagley must earn his fourth-quarter time from the Sacramento Kings

It’s year three for Marvin Bagley and, understandably, he wants a bigger role. Watching his teammate Richaun Holmes shine at the big man position does nothing but infuriate Bagley while he misses opportunities in the fourth quarter.

But the question is whether Bagley is deserving of key minutes down the stretch for the Sacramento Kings. The decision to keep Bagley out of the rotation in the last five minutes should motivate him to play at an even higher level.

Let’s not get it twisted, Bagley shows that he is a true warrior. He’s been able to come back from his thumb fracture and display great statistics across the board. Bagley was also a part of the reason why the Kings were able to chase for the eighth seed late in the season.

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His ability to come in and make his presence felt was important for the Kings and their late-season success. Bagley was a dominant factor under the rim and it showed people his value as an overall player.

Then, the NBA season gets suspended and Bagley suffers a foot injury as the season is set to restart. This was a huge blow for the Kings due to Bagley’s play before the season was suspended. And once the season restated in the bubble, the Kings didn’t have the same dominance that they had with Bagley. If Bagley were to be available in the bubble, who knows how the outcome would have been for Sacramento’s playoff chances.

The 2020-21 season has been a year for Bagley to prove that he belongs as a permanent starter. But, unfortunately, that has not been the factor. The reason Kings head coach Luke Walton continues to play Richaun Holmes is because he continues to provide effort on both sides of the floor.

I’m not sure whether the injuries are still lingering for Bagley, but the effort this season has been very inconsistent, to say the least. We see his frustration for not closing out games. But if he’s going to be the go-to big man down the stretch, he must provide more on both ends.

Bagley had back-to-back 20-point games against Denver and Houston last week. In those games, he was able to get to his spots and torch the defense with his offensive skill set. After that, Bagley showed his less-assertive play in Monday’s action against the Golden State Warriors.

It shows that when Bagley is utilized more on the offensive end, the Kings get better production out of him from both sides. Maybe that’s something that Luke Walton should look deep into. Having Bagley more involved means that his mind is engaged and he is focused on everything going on with his team.

As the season progresses, Bagley will have to accept the role that he is in and continue to play at a high level. We understand that he is deserving of being in the rotation late in the game. But he must show a more consistent play to do so. Usually, Luke Walton is the one to blame for his rotation of players. But in this situation, I can’t blame him for wanting to play valuable pieces late in the game.