Vlade Divac Is Clearly Still Living In Denial After Suggesting That "Time Will Tell" If Picking Marvin Bagley Over Luka Doncic Was The Wrong Choice

Ezra Shaw. Getty Images.

No matter the sport, there will always be hits and misses regarding the Draft. It's always easy to look back in hindsight and talk about how bad or good a particular pick was, but in the moment it's a complete crap shoot. You do your scouting, you make your pick with confidence, and you pray like hell it works out. This is especially true when you're picking in the high Lottery as an NBA franchise, as that selection can either tank your franchise for years or be the thing that sets them off on a path to an eventual championship.

When it comes to the 2018 NBA Draft, hindsight is a hell of a drug. Now in 2024, it seems unfathomable that any NBA franchise would consider not taking Luka Doncic, yet two teams decided that a generational prospect who had been playing professional basketball basically since birth wasn't "the guy". You know, despite already achieving all of this before even entering the NBA

I'm not an NBA GM, but that feels like someone you should probably want to build your franchise around. That is of course, you're Vlade Divac, who still seems to be in a bit of denial when it comes to him passing on Luka for.....Marvin Bagley 

Now, De'Aaron Fox is a fine player. An awesome player even. He's an All Star point guard, one of the most clutch players in the entire NBA, so it's not as if he's some sort of bum that shouldn't be impacting how a GM decides to build his roster

But to suggest that "time will tell" if passing on Luka for Marvin Bagley was a bad decision is very funny. Guess what Vlade? Enough time has passed since the 2018 Draft for us to say definitively that this was a franchise-altering mistake. Marvin Bagley isn't even on the Kings anymore! Meanwhile, Luka has continued to be a generational player, is in the MVP conversation every season, and guess what? He also plays next to a point guard in Kyrie Irving!

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I do appreciate the spinzone from Vlade that instead of talking about what a disaster Marvin Bagley ended up being, he's instead playing the Fox card. Nobody is denying that Fox is a great player, but this idea that you can't play him next to Luka is rather insane. Especially when the Kings ended up taking Tyrese Haliburton in 2020, a few months after Vlade stepped down as GM. Sure they ended up flipping Haliburton for Sabonis which has its own questions, but the point is you could always do the same thing in a potential Luka/Fox backcourt (not that you would want to imo).

I'm just not sure why Vlade is so hesitant to admit he missed on this pick. It happens every year to a bunch of teams! The Draft is a gamble! In my opinion, it makes Vlade look even worse that he can't just come clean and admit he fucked up. Shit happens sometimes man, it's no big deal. Well, it is a big deal because you could have had Luka Doncic on your roster, but you know what I mean. Perhaps he's still emotional because Luka won't let him forget about passing on him

I would just love to know what Vlade needs to see over this "time" in order to feel like he was actually right in this decision. De'Aaron Fox having a great career isn't really the barometer of success when it comes to Bagley over Luka, and seeing as how one guy is a perennial All NBA 1st team player doing shit like this on a nightly basis

and the other is currently fighting for his life for minutes on the Washington Wizards (his 3rd team since 2018), I'm inclined to believe this debate is over and has been over for about 6 years now.