Could Marvin Bagley III slip to the Mavs with the Fifth Pick?

Marvin Bagley III

Born: March 14, 1999 (19 years-old)

Height: 6’11” – Wingspan: 7’0”

Weight: 235 lbs

High School: Sierra Canyon School (Chatsworth, CA)

College: Duke University (1 Year)

College Statistics: 21 PPG, 11.1 RPG, 1.5 APG / .614 FG%, .397 3PT%, .627 FT% over 33 GP while averaging 33.8 MPG.

How Marvin Bagley III drops to the Mav’s fifth pick:

Marvin Bagley III is one of, if not the most athletic and versatile player in this upcoming NBA draft, which doesn’t make sense because he’s 6-11.

The 19-year-old is NBA ready and projected to be a top-five pick overall in the draft. With the Dallas Maverick’s fifth pick, he certainly could be on the board, once the time comes.

Now, assuming Luka Doncic and DeAndre Ayton go one and two (Suns and Kings) like just about every mock draft is predicting, this could set up for multiple ways for Bagley to fall a little deeper in the draft. There has been a lot of mutual interest between the Hawks (third pick) and Trae Young as they held a workout for him on Tuesday. ESPN’s Mike Greenberg recently calling him “the wildcard of this draft… he has one of the highest ceilings as well as one of the lowest floors.” Even Quavo from Migos says that the Hawks “better take Young with that number three pick.”

Mohamed Bamba and Jaren Jackson Jr’s draft stocks are continuing to rise and there have been numerous talks of Memphis wanting one of those guys to be mentored (and eventually be replaced) by Marc Gasol. This is all assuming nobody trades out of their pick. If that happens, then someone could very well be trading up to get Bagley, but let’s stick to the draft order for now.

With all of that to say in a nutshell, all of a sudden Bagley is still there at No. five. The Mavs would then take him, of course.

Brief breakdown and analysis of Marvin Bagley III:

Marvin Bagley III is as explosive as any of the top lottery picks over the years. The man will score at will whenever he so pleases. I look back to his career night against Florida State, also a very good team. That December night Bagley single-handedly carried the Blue Devils to the victory scoring 32 points and grabbing 21 rebounds. This was the first 30-20 game from a Duke player since the 1960s.

“He’s the most unique player we’ve had here at Duke during my 38 years,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “He has everything. In some respects, Kyrie [Irving] was like that. But Kyrie got hurt after eight games.”

“He has everything,” is a great, simple analysis of Bagley. The 2018 All-American power forward can defend the rim, box-out, jump for any board, score buckets at will, and move his feet better than any big many people have ever seen. There is true value with these characteristics in the NBA today. Being able to guard any position like Anthony Davis or Joel Embiid can, is huge and Bagley is very comparable to that type of big man.

Imagine pairing this talent alongside Dennis Smith Jr. and Harrison Barnes. I can’t think of anything else that would give Mavs fans more excitement as we escape the rebuilding phase and shift into the contending phase, once again. We will just have to wait and see once June 21st is here and the first four picks are off the board.