Former Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac clarifies his decision to pass on Luka Doncic during the 2018 NBA Draft.
Heading into the 2018 NBA Draft, the Sacramento Kings were viewed as the team with control over the draft. With the Phoenix Suns sitting at No. 1, with Deandre Ayton considered the unanimous top overall prospect, it was the Kings with the second overall pick who were going to have plenty of options to dictate how the rest of the draft would evolve. In what ended up being somewhat of a curious decision, instead of picking Luka Doncic, who many believed was the second-best draft prospect in the class, Sacramento decided to select Marvin Bagley.
Even though Bagley was a talented big out of Duke, he was far from a polished prospect and didn't nearly have the reputation and high ceiling that a player like Luka had heading into the draft.
In the end, Luka was the third overall pick (and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks). Perhaps most importantly, he ended up being the best player from that draft class. Looking back, both the Suns and Kings made a big mistake in passing on Luka. Considering where both the Phoenix Suns and Kings find themselves as franchises, it's difficult not to label it as an all-time mistake for the latter.
The Suns made it to the NBA Finals a few years ago and sit in a great position with Devin Booker. The Kings have continued to struggle as a franchise since. The Kings have only made the playoffs once in the past six years and just recently snapped a 16-year playoff drought. When you consider that, it only makes the decision to pass on Luka that much more confusing.
In a recent interview, former Kings general manager Vlade Divac clarified his decision to pass on Luka. In his words, a big part of that decision relied on the fact that the team already had De'Aaron Fox on the roster (who was selected in the top 5 of the previous NBA Draft).
Vlade Divac can't be 100 percent blamed for the decision
As bad of a move as it may look in retrospect, you can't really blame Divac. The team had just drafted a point guard they believed in and it didn't really make much sense to add another one. Right now, the Kings would easily trade Fox for Luka but, at the time, there was no guarantee that Luka was going to develop into the superstar player he is now.
Luka certainly showed flashes of greatness, but there was no guarantee he was going to be this good right away. Even though the Kings (and Divac) shouldn't be completely blamed for the decision, it's certainly one of the bigger "what ifs" in recent NBA history.