The story of the Sacramento Kings over the past 20 years is based on a series of intertwining missed opportunities and unforced errors that continue to dog them. A major one was wasting the number two draft pick in 2018, passing up a litany of future legends in favor of drafting Marvin Bagley III.
It's been a minute or two since the Kings were remotely relevant. Late head coach Rick Adelman led the Kings to the playoffs for eight consecutive years until the team let him go after 2006. Since then, Sactown fans have watched two decades of head-scratching decisions hold the Kings back.
That includes the firing of former head coach Mike Brown after finally getting the Kings back to the playoffs for the first time since Adelman. Trading both Tyrese Haliburton and De'Aaron Fox with no real plan for their starting point guard position also qualifies as a huge misstep.
Keeping all of that in mind, the worst of the worst has to be the 2018 NBA Draft. The Kings had the number two pick with a draft class that included some incredible talent. They instead chose to use it on Bagley, someone who has now played for six teams in eight seasons. Not a good call.
Sacramento drops the ball in 2018 with authority
The obvious miss was Doncic, who ended up going third that year. At this point, his resume is well-known across the league. If he can stay healthy and the Lakers finally get a good starting center, Doncic is a shoo-in for an MVP in the future, as well as winning a title in Los Angeles.
That should have been the Kings. The only reason they didn't pick him was because then general manager, Vlade Divac, assumed he would eventually leave. Yet, Bagely was gone after four seasons, so Divac's concerns were even more ridiculous. Hold on tight, because 2018 gets even worse.
Not only did the Kings pass on Doncic, they also chose Bagley over Jaren Jackson Jr., Trae Young, Collin Sexton, Mikal Bridges, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anfernee Simons, and Jalen Brunson. They even drafted Gary Trent Jr. in the second round, then traded him to the Blazers for picks.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are at least a dozen other players who would have been better picks than Bagley. It's a massive list of missed opportunities that could have changed the Kings' destiny. The only positive is that they didn't end up with Deandre Ayton, who went first.
