Atlanta Hawks: trade option at PF No. 4: Marvin Bagley has had a rough go so far but could follow a former teammate’s footsteps
Sometimes all it takes is a change of scenery for a player to find their footing in the NBA. The aforementioned Grant was never viewed as a focal point before last season. Similarly, Andrew Wiggins might not be what he was billed as upon entering the league, but he proved to be a very valuable, productive player for the Golden State Warriors.
Marvin Bagley could fall under the same category as Wiggins who came from the Minnesota Timberwolves, or current Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, formerly of the Kings), an organization that hasn’t always maximized its talent.
The 6-foot-11 Bagley was compared to Collins during the draft process.
But he’s been rather stagnant as most of his numbers have remained the same. He shot a career-best 34.3 percent from deep but a career-worst 57.5 percent at the line.
Like many players nowadays, Bagley removed any mention of the Kings from his social media. What really got folks going was his liking a tweet saying “we gotta get @MB3FIVE outta Sac” which, to be fair, he shrugged off.
There was also the report from back in March that the Kings offered Bagley to the Hawks only for nothing to ever come of it. Now might be a good time to revisit the idea of a swap following that report from Charania. Of course, that would require the Hawks to soften on the stance they apparently took back in March.
An All-Rookie First Teamer, Bagley has only appeared in 108 out of 226 possible games.
Injuries have been the cause for most of that. Bagley also played in his fewest games in 2020, when the Kings tried to use him as a center. He’s been much more durable at power forward. Bagley is also a year younger than Collins, playing into a similar line of thinking as with Grant.
Even if the deal wasn’t Bagley (plus other assets) for Collins, the Hawks could still lose the latter. That means they should at least keep an eye on the former’s situation and price tag.