Bogdan Bogdanovic has, frankly, not been as good recently as he should be or is expected to be as of late. He shot 39% from the field in the month of February and 29% from the threezone. That’s especially strange because he started every game in February in place of Buddy Hield. Normally players play better when they start; it’s the exception when a player does better coming off the bench.
The question, now, is why? Why has Bogdanovic regressed? I have a theory.
When the trade deadline came and went with no additional Serbs being acquired by the Kings, Bogdanovic’s heart was broken. His dreams of a Serbian Superteam in Sacramento (SSS) were crushed by Vlade Divac’s inaction on that front. While countless Serbs both in the NBA and overseas were undoubtedly available for the right price, Vlade didn’t pay that price for any of them. And so, Bogdanovic was left only with his Serbian compatriot Nemanja Bjelica on the team, one Serb short of the SSS.
There’s another adjacent, but different, explanation: Bogdanovic was expecting to be traded away from the cursed Kings franchise, but they retained him for whatever reason and now he’s stuck there at least until the end of the season. He saw his teammate Dewayne Dedmon demand a trade but remained silent on his own trade demands because he didn’t want to create another media circus. However, through his silent frustration, the trade deadline went by with no change in scenery for Bogdanovic because the Kings felt no public pressure to move him.
As far as I’m concerned, the two theories that I listed above are the only plausible explanations for Bogdanovic’s slump. The suggestion that he might be slumping simply because he is slumping (with no further explanation needed) is not going to be entertained here. I prefer my conspiracy theories, thank you very much.