Orlando Magic: 5 reasons Mohamed Bamba was a good pick
By Luke Duffy
4. It’s time for moving on
The addition of Bamba means that the Magic can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel with their current rotation of centers on the team.
Nikola Vucevic has been a loyal servant to the franchise and is accomplished offensively, but we also know if he is the best player on the team, it won’t go very far.
It would be ideal to keep Vucevic and bring him off the bench, but entering the final year of his deal (he’s making $12.8 million this season) he looks like an ideal player to include in any trades that come up.
Orlando Magic
The team would likely prefer to get rid of its other center Bismack Biyombo instead, but he is making an eye-watering $17 million not only this coming season, but the one after that as well.
This is assuming he takes the player option on his deal next season which, quite frankly, he would be crazy not to.
Two years can go by awfully quick in the league though, and knowing that the financial drain and minutes these two take up will be gone in the near future is exciting for the Magic going forward.
If both of these players could magically disappear this summer, the team would have had enough money to go after a max player.
It is likely nobody notable would have come, of course, but selling them on the future of their exciting young core is easier than asking them to play next to Biyombo and Vucevic.
Once those two are gone, it will leave Bamba and a young and improving player like Khem Birch in those roles, which will be much better not only for the player’s development, but the organization as a whole.