Social media can be a dark place. Everyone has a voice, even the family members of NBA players.
In what has become almost commonplace in Sacramento, Marvin Bagley II, aka Coach Bagley, turned to twitter during the Kings’ loss to the Houston Rockets on Saturday to voice his displeasure with his son's current role.
While the comment was quickly removed, there were plenty of screenshots of the original tweet.
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“@SacramentoKings PLEASE trade Marvin Bagley III ASAP! Love - Coach Bagley,” he tweeted.
The elder Bagley even later retweeted a tweet quoting the screenshot.
Bagley's demand quickly made its way around Twitter, even trendng for some time.
Following the game, coach Luke Walton avoided adding fuel to the fire when asked about Bagley's father.
“My message is always the same -- we don’t listen to any of that,” Walton said following the Kings' loss. “It’s us within these walls, us within this locker room. We’re in this together. Like I always say, good or bad, we’ve got to do everything we can to not let that affect what we’re trying to get done here.”
Marvin Bagley III is extremely talented. He also just played in his 81st NBA game due to a series of injuries in both his first and second seasons in the league.
NBA
He needs time to build experience, which the Kings are more than willing to give him.
“We know he has a very bright future, but we’re going to continue to be patient, continue to teach, continue to work with him on all of that stuff, but he’s doing a nice job,” Walton added.
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Bagley finished the night with 12 points, nine rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes of play. He played fewer than two minutes in the fourth quarter after sitting out the entire fourth in the Kings’ loss to the Rockets on Thursday.
In the end, this is all just noise for a team trying to snap a 14-year playoff drought. How Marvin Bagley, the NBA player, handles all of this up to him, but it’s his reputation that is on the line.
The Kings are 3-3 on the season. Bagley is healthy and contributing as the team’s starting power forward. That should probably be the focus, whether it is inside the walls of the Kings’ locker room or on the outside world where everyone has an opinion.