The No.29 ranked recruit out of the 2020 class, Marcus Bagley has been cleared to return to all basketball activities after suffering injury in 2021 season.
Bagley entered the ASU basketball program as a highly-touted recruit which many saw as an NBA player in training.
Unfortunately, since enrolling in 2020 Bagley has been hit by multiple injuries that have kept him out of games. In fact, he has missed more games than he has played in his two seasons as a Sun Devil.
That being said, the playing time he has had has shown plenty of the flashes of greatness that scouts remarked on as he was coming out of high school. In 15 games he has averaged 10.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
Although it had been assumed he would follow in his big brother’s footsteps – Marvin Bagley played one season at Duke before entering the NBA Draft – he has stuck around and seems to intend to return to ASU in the fall for his third season.
College basketball insider, Jon Rothstein, reported that ASU basketball’s Marcus Bagley has been fully cleared to return for all basketball-related activities.
Arizona State's Marcus Bagley (knee) has been fully cleared for all basketball related activities, per Bobby Hurley. Significant Pac-12 news.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) June 13, 2022
Former Top-40 recruit who only appeared in three games last season due to injury.
In the limited minutes that Sun Devil fans have gotten to see Bagley in action, he still holds a great deal of promise.
The 6-foot-8 forward provides serious length at the position and he is pretty equally talented at both rebounding and scoring which will undoubtedly help the Sun Devils squad of 2022.
The product of a basketball family – brother Marvin currently plays for the Detroit Pistons and grandfather “Jumpin” Joe Caldwell was one of the best players in ASU basketball history – Marcus is looking to make his mark both on Arizona State and in the minds of NBA scouts.
He has the innate skills that transfer well to the big leagues, but he has had very limited chances to showcase that in his college career to this point due to injuries.
Returning another season benefits both sides of the equation, giving Bagley another chance to impress the NBA and giving ASU another scoring threat around the perimeter and inside.