"I think time has told quite a bit": Luka Doncic take has NBA author nullifying former Sacramento Kings GM decision
The Sacramento Kings passing up on Luka Doncic to pick Marvin Bagley III is widely regarded as one of the worst draft night decisions in NBA history. Six years later, that infamous decision keeps getting criticized in the NBA world.
Flash forward to now and explaining the thought process behind this decision, Vlade Divac said that having De'Aaron Fox on the roster would've made things complicated with Luka Doncic.
“In that position I had De’Aaron Fox, who I drafted a year earlier,” Divac said in an interview, per EuroHoops. “At that moment, I thought Fox was a player who could become a franchise player in the future. Time will tell if I was wrong. As things stand now, it looks like I am, but I have faith in young Fox that he will have a better career.”
NBA author J. Kyle Mann reacted to these words, saying that time has shown enough to demonstrate that he felt Divac made a terrible decision.
"I think time has told quite a bit," he tweeted on Saturday morning.
After the Phoenix Suns selected Deandre Ayton as the No. 1 overall pick, many believed that the Kings would go with Doncic. Doncic was coming off a dominating stint in Europe, winning EuroLeague Final Four MVP honors with Real Madrid.
Divac, the then Kings general manager, picked Bagley, opening the door for the Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks to make a big trade. The Hawks picked Doncic with the No. 3 overall pick and immediately sent him to Dallas, while the Mavs selected Trae Young two spots later and sent him to the A.
That decision has given fans a lot to talk and after several years, it's clear that the Kings missed out on a huge opportunity to turn the franchise around.
How has Luka Doncic fared with the Mavericks?
In his six NBA seasons, Luka Doncic has missed the playoffs twice, first in his rookie season and then in 2022-23, when he and Kyrie Irving were shut down in the final games of the campaign.
On the bright side, he's taken the Dallas Mavericks to have deep playoff runs, first going to the Western Conference finals in 2022, losing to the Golden State Warriors.
Then, they went to the Finals last season, losing to the Boston Celtics 4-1 after eliminating the LA Clippers, OKC Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves, respectively, on the way to the big series.
Conversely, the Kings could only make it to the playoffs in 2023, ending a 16-year drought only to be sent home by the Golden State Warriors in an emotional first-round series.
Marvin Bagley III is now in Detroit while Luka Doncic remains an elite player in the NBA.