Untapped Potential: Could Mo Bamba Blossom With Doncic, Mavs?

The Dallas Mavericks were linked heavily to the Orlando Magic big man before the 2018 NBA Draft.

Dalton Trigg | Apr 14, 2022

It’s no secret that the Dallas Mavericks could use some big man upgrades this summer. This isn’t to say Dwight Powell hasn’t been fantastic — he just finished the season with the second-highest field goal percentage in team history (67.1) — but Dallas simply needs more big bodies.

Since the Kristaps Porzingis trade, the Mavs’ big man rotation has consisted of Powell, Maxi Kleber, who appears to have completely forgotten how to make a 3-pointer, and Marquese Chriss in games where Kleber doesn’t play.

Mo Bamba was a draft target for the Mavs in 2018.

Doncic shoots over Bamba.

Bamba attempts to block Doncic.

Powell (30) and Kleber (30) aren’t getting any younger, and Chriss (24) has shown some super-athletic flashes, but has been mostly inconsistent. Boban Marjanovic can be useful in limited minutes, but he’s mostly on the team for chemistry reasons.

With all that said, the Mavs could look at this summer’s free agency market to upgrade, assuming they don’t do so via trade or draft before then. Could Orlando Magic center Mo Bamba be a viable option?

Bamba is coming off a career-best season going into restricted free agency. The Texas product averaged 10.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks, while shooting 48 percent from the field and 38.1 percent on 3s in 25.7 minutes per game.

Given that the Magic also have Wendell Carter Jr., who averaged 15 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists, Bamba has come up often in trade rumors. The Magic ultimately decided to hang onto Bamba, but depending on how big of an offer he receives in free agency, Orlando might not match. At the very least, the Magic could try to execute a sign-and-trade to keep from losing him for nothing.

First-year Magic coach Jamahl Mosley, an assistant coach for the Mavs under Rick Carlisle last season, experimented by putting Carter at power forward and Bamba at center, but the results have been underwhelming from an analytical standpoint. That duo, when on the court together, posted a -5.5 net rating in 1,013 minutes.

The Indiana Pacers recently experienced a similar issue with Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis. It didn't make sense to play both of them together, but they were both starting-caliber players. Indiana ultimately traded Sabonis to the Sacramento Kings for Tyrese Haliburton at the deadline.

As good as Bamba was this season, he could potentially be even better as the starting center in Dallas next to Luka Doncic ... at least in theory. One would think adding a big man with Bamba's length, athleticism and shooting touch would a seamless fit next to Doncic, but Bamba's style of play compared to Powell would make the Mavs have to tweak some things offensively.

Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks — Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Will Doncic's calf injury keep him from playing in Game 1 on Saturday?

Jazz, Gobert, Mitchell — Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

This could be the final chapter of the Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert era in Utah.

Spencer Dinwiddie, Dallas Mavericks — David Berding-USA TODAY Sports

Spencer Dinwiddie's name will be called on early and often if Doncic is unable to play.

For example, the Mavs currently rely heavily on Doncic and Powell in the two-man game with pick-and-rolls. Powell is one of the best players in the league as a roll man, ranking in the 92nd percentile. Bamba, on the other hand, ranked in the 24th percentile as a roll man for the Magic. To be completely fair to Bamba, though, he hasn't played with a point guard maestro like Doncic.

Regardless, the Mavs could benefit from adding Bamba to their stable of bigs heading into next season given how shorthanded they've been in that department this year. The biggest question is how much money will Bamba command on the market? If he's anywhere in the $9 million Mid-Level Exception (MLE) range, the Mavs should due their due diligence. Dallas could even work out a sign-and-trade so Orlando doesn't lose Bamba without getting something back.

Bamba was constantly connected to the Mavs in the 2018 pre-draft process before Dallas traded out of the fifth pick to move up and snag Doncic, so there is a little bit of familiarity there, even though Dallas has a new GM and head coach since then. We'll see if any actual interest materializes here as we move closer to the summer.

For now, though, the Mavs are preparing to take on the Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs. Dallas will have to hope that its bigs can at least contain Rudy Gobert for the course of a best-of-seven series. If not, coach Jason Kidd may have to change things up and go small with Dorian Finney-Smith at the 5 in hopes of making Gobert unplayable.

Published Apr 14, 2022

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.