The former Blue Devil has had a tough time in the NBA, but his talent is real and Washington is finding ways to use it.
The NBA is a tough league for anyone and with the focus on youth and potential in recent years, it’s an even tougher place to carve out a role.
That’s been true for former Blue Devil Marvin Bailey.
As you may remember, he was terrific at Duke and was the #2 pick in the 2018 draft behind Luka Doncic.
And yet he has struggled. He was obviously unhappy in Sacramento before being traded to Detroit. And the Pistons were truly, epically bad so being traded to the Washington Wizards was a big deal.
And so far, his time with Washington has gone pretty well.
In his first three games, Bagley averaged a double-double with 18.3 points and 10 boards. Against Utah, he had 14 points and three boards before putting up 13 and eight against his old Motor City team.
Sacto was a disaster for Bagley and Detroit wasn’t much better. The Pistons are currently just 6-40 and that’s a whole lot of losing.
Washington isn’t much better - the Wizards are 8-37 - but the Wizards have a good point guard in fellow former Blue Devil Tyus Jones and Bagley appears to be carving out a good role. He told The Washington Post this: “I’m just playing hard, man. I’m just trying to bring energy whenever I’m on the floor, trying to be aggressive, just do what I do. Now we’ve just got to put it all together to try to finish games and try to get a win.”
