ASU Men’s Basketball: Bagley’s inactivity tweet yields suspension

Arizona State Men’s Basketball has suspended its star junior forward Marcus Bagley for tweeting he was “100 percent” healthy while not appearing in a game, according to Bagley’s Twitter post.

After announcing his own suspension, Bagley made a statement warning athletes to choose carefully where they go to college. Bagley declared for the NBA Draft after his freshman season in 2020-21, before withdrawing his name from the Draft and entering the transfer portal. He later withdrew his name from the portal and returned to ASU.

Since then, Bagley has played five games through two seasons, playing three games during the 2021-22 season.

Bagley suffered a hip-pointer injury on Nov. 10 against Northern Arizona, forcing him to sit out against Texas Southern on Nov. 13. Additionally, Bagley did not travel to Brooklyn for the Legend’s Classic Tournament and has not played in a game since the incident.

Bagley was dressed and warmed up on Nov. 22 against Grambling State. After the 80-49 victory, head coach Bobby Hurley cited the Sun Devils’ recent success in his decision to keep Bagley on the bench.

“I’ve had really good couple of games, and guys are playing well,” Hurley said on Nov. 22. “Our perimeter is really playing at a high level. I wasn’t going to disrupt anything tonight.”

Hurley appeared on Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta, to discuss Bagley’s lack of playing time, citing issues outside of Bagley’s control for his lack of playing time.

“I’m going to speak with Marcus here in a few hours,” Hurley said on Tuesday’s edition of Bickley & Marotta. “Yesterday we were off, and I didn’t get a chance to talk with him concerning his tweet, and his other tweet about being healthy, which is fine. He’s been at practice, so we know he’s healthy.

“I think it’s a byproduct of other guys playing well and just not having the opportunity to get him out on the floor. … We have a stacked perimeter and right now there’s just no minutes for him.”