Former Kings GM Divac says ‘time will tell’ if Luka’s refusal to enter draft was a mistake originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
More than six years later 2018 NBA DraftVlade Divac is not ready to admit that letting go of Luka Dončić was a mistake.
Divac, the Hall of Fame center who spent five years as the Kings’ general manager, reiterated his decision to select forward Marvin Bagley III over Dončić with the second overall pick in 2018 (h/t HR Index).
The 56-year-old’s reasoning? At the time, Sacramento was banking on the rise of star point guard De’Aaron Fox, who was then entering his second season in the NBA.
“At that position, I already had De’Aaron Fox, who I had drafted a year earlier,” Divac said. “At the time, I thought Fox was a player who could become a star for the franchise in the years to come.”
And while it now seems clear that Divac made the wrong choice in passing up a five-time NBA All-Star and potential Hall of Famer, he’s not ready to admit it yet.
“Time will tell if I was wrong,” Divac added. “As it stands now, it looks like I was wrong, but I still believe Fox will have a great career.”
Fox, an All-NBA, All-Star and Clutch Player of the Year award winner, has held up his end of the bargain by becoming the undisputed leader and face of the Kings organization.
The same cannot be said of Bagley, however.
The Duke product left Sacramento for the Detroit Pistons before the 2022 NBA trade deadline after three and a half disappointing seasons with the Kings.
Of course, at the time, Bagley’s potential was rated higher than Dončić’s by many league scouts.
But did Divac envision a scenario in which the Kings could have paired Fox and Dončić — like the Dallas Mavericks do with Kyrie Irving and Dončić?
“No,” Divac added. “Irving is a classic scorer, just like Luka. Fox is not; he’s a playmaker who needs the ball, just like Luka.”
“I could have taken Luka, but then I would have had to trade Fox.” Interestingly, Phoenix also passed on Luka, and at the time their coach was Igor Kokoškov, who had coached Luka in Slovenia. Atlanta selected Luka, but they traded him.
“It was Dallas who ultimately chose him. I love watching Luka, I really like his style of basketball. I had my own reasons for making that decision. Maybe I made a mistake, but time will tell.”
Last season, Dončić seemed to be chirping Divac during the final seconds of the Mavericks’ 107-103 victory over the Kings at Golden 1 Center.
The Mavericks guard said goodbye to Divac before telling his teammates and coaches that he (Divac) should have drafted me.
Whether or not one admits his mistake, it seems that letting Dončić down will continue to haunt Divac.
