The Sacramento Kings have been ridiculed for not using their No. 2 overall pick to select Luka Doncic during the 2018 NBA Draft and instead got Marvin Bagley III, whose game didn’t translate well to the NBA.
It is one of the franchise’s biggest what-ifs because a potential backcourt pair of De’Aaron Fox and Luka Doncic would’ve been fun to watch. However, things eventually worked out well between the Sacramento Kings and Doncic, with the former being in the playoff mix in the Western Conference and the latter fresh from an NBA Finals appearance.
Vlade Divac was behind this franchise-altering decision. During a recent interview with Index HR (translated into English), the former Sacramento Kings center and GM explained why he passed over Luka Doncic.
“I already had De’Aaron Fox,” Divac said via Basketball on X. “Time will tell if I was wrong. As things stand now, it seems I was, but I still have faith in Fox having a great career.”
In a March game between the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks last season, Luka Doncic was caught on camera saying, “he shoulda draft me” in what was a shot at Vlade Divac. The Dallas Mavericks won the match with a score of 107-103.
The Sacramento Kings also missed out on other top candidates
What made the Marvin Bagley III pick worse for the Sacramento Kings at the time was that they also missed out on the opportunity to select some of the 2018 Draft Class’ other top talents. Even after Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Jaren Jackson Jr., Mikal Bridges, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Brunson were still on the board.
Fortunately for the Sacramento Kings, they replaced Vlade Divac with Monte McNair in September 2020. McNair won the NBA Executive of the Year award in 2023 after turning Sacramento into a playoff contender in the Western Conference.
