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Former Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac explained the logic behind his now infamous decision to go with Marvin Bagley III instead of Luka Doncic back in the 2018 NBA Draft.
“In that position I had De’Aaron Fox, who I drafted a year earlier,” Divac said in an interview with Croatian website Index. “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.”
Divac elaborated on why he doesn’t believe that Fox and Doncic would make a good pair.
“Fox is a point guard who needs the ball, just young Luka,” Divac added. “I could only take Luka, but then I would have to trade Fox. Interestingly, Luka was also passed on by Phoenix, and at that time their coach was Igor Kokoškov, who was the coach in Slovenia. The Atlanta Hawks chose him. Only then did Dallas take him. “I love watching Luka, I really love his game, but I had my own reasons for deciding the way I did. Maybe I was wrong, but time will tell.”
Bagley didn’t reach the expectations that come with being a No. 2 overall pick in the Draft and the Kings traded him in early 2022. Doncic, on the other hand, went on to become an NBA superstar and MVP contender.
Sacramento fans still blame Divac for the Kings passing on Luka, especially considering that the Serbian legend was well-acquainted with the Slovenian player’s game, capabilities and potential.
There were rumors that Divac didn’t pick Luka because he had a bad relationship with his father Sasa Doncic.
“These are ordinary journalistic nonsense,” Divac said. “I know Sasa very well, I love and appreciate him. He even played in Kraljevo (as did Divac) when Luka was little. It has nothing to do with the relationship. I follow Luka and see that he is going the right way. I repeat, he will just have to watch his body.”